TECHNICAL CONSULTATIONS: The group will inspect the Yongbyon nuclear complex to determine the most effective way of shutting the facility down permanently
US technical experts began a rare visit to North Korea to examine ways to disable Pyongyang's nuclear programs, which have produced at least one atomic bomb.

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A lawyer for Time magazine in Indonesia vowed yesterday to fight a Supreme Court decision awarding former dictator Suharto US$106 million in a defamation suit he filed against the publication in 1999.

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DEMOCRATIC GOALS: The territory's former deputy leader said she would seek election in a bid to boost efforts to win universal suffrage, which Beijing continues to block
The woman once described as "Hong Kong's conscience" said yesterday she will fight an election for the first time, in an effort to galvanize the pro-democracy movement in the territory.

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Two people were killed yesterday by suspected insurgents in Thailand's Muslim south, as residents of the region prepared to observe Islam's holy month of Ramadan, police said.

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Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the Australian parliament yesterday on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks that terrorism had brought the countries closer together.

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Police have disrupted plots by Muslim militants to bomb tourist and shopping locations in the volatile southern Philippines with the arrests of seven suspects, officials said yesterday.

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TENSION: Media reports said that a van packed with 300kg of explosives had been found in Ankara as the country braced for the anniversary of its 1980 military coup
Sniffer dogs yesterday discovered a bomb-laden vehicle parked in an Ankara garage as police increase security measures in Turkey fearing attacks timed to coincide with Sept. 11, the governor of Ankara said.

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It is not certain that traces of blood found in a car rented by Kate and Gerry McCann match that of their missing daughter Madeleine, the director of the Portuguese judicial police said as they prepared to report to prosecutors yesterday.

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A large and complex peacekeeping operation planned for Darfur will launch on time and could, within mere months, improve the security situation in the war-torn region of western Sudan, the mission head said.

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Ehsan Jami knew he was making himself a target for radical Islamists when he decided to launch a Dutch organization for Muslims who renounce their religion.

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CIVILIAN CASUALTIES: A resident who described himself as a tribal leader said a teenage boy was shot dead when he opened his door to see what was going on
US forces killed nine suspects in a raid early yesterday on the Baghdad stronghold of a powerful Shiite militia, the military said. Iraqi police and witnesses said only three people were killed, all civilians.

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MAJOR VICTORY: Authorities said Diego Leon Montoya Sanchez was behind 70 percent of the cocaine sent to the US and Europe and behind around 1,500 murders
Colombian authorities on Monday captured notorious drug lord Diego Leon Montoya Sanchez, named alongside Osama bin Laden on the FBI's list of 10 most wanted fugitives.

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A tough-on-crime former general and a businessman running on an anti-poverty platform who emerged as the top two candidates in the first round of Guatemala's presidential election are jockeying for alliances ahead of a Nov. 4 runoff.

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A federal jury found five aging men guilty on Monday in a racketeering conspiracy that involved decades of extortion, loan sharking and murder aimed at killing anyone who dared stand in the way of the Chicago mob.

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At least 37 people were killed and scores injured late on Sunday night when a truck carrying explosives blew up after crashing into a pickup truck and catching fire, state and federal authorities said.

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