CONFLICTING VIEWS: Afghan authorities said a bomb caused most of the casualties in a Nov. 6 attack, but an internal UN report said two-thirds of the victims were hit by gunfire
Bodyguards fired wildly into a crowd after a suicide bombing in northern Afghanistan, killing mostly schoolchildren in the barrage, an internal UN report said.

[ FULL STORY ]

North Korea began two days of talks with the US in New York on Monday in what Washington officials described as a bid to educate the country about international financial standards of conduct.

[ FULL STORY ]

KICKED OUT: Xinhua reported that a 100-day crackdown found 32,000 more cases of residents being forced out of their homes or off their land for little or no compensation
Chinese authorities have uncovered 32,000 more cases of illegal land grabs during a crackdown on one of the major factors behind rising social unrest across the country, state press reported yesterday.

[ FULL STORY ]

The Philippines promised yesterday to investigate reports of bid-rigging that led the World Bank to suspend a US$232 million loan for a national road project.

[ FULL STORY ]

ISRAELI MISSION: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wants Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to rally Arab states behind the peace summit, pre-empting the Palestinians
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert flew to Egypt yesterday to try to drum up support from reluctant Arab states for an upcoming Middle East peace conference, after failing to bridge gaps in a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

[ FULL STORY ]

Hundreds of thousands of French civil servants and students went on strike yesterday, joining a week-long stoppage by transport workers and ramping up the pressure on French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

[ FULL STORY ]

LOOKING FOR OPTIONS: EU, US and Russia envoys are trying to reach a deal before the Kosovo Albanians carry through on their threat to declare independence
Serbian and Kosovo Albanian leaders met yesterday to try to reach a compromise over the breakaway Serb province of Kosovo as a Dec. 10 deadline for a deal draws near.

[ FULL STORY ]

The leaders of Venezuela and Iran boasted that together they would be victorious over the US, saying the fall of the US dollar was a prelude to the end of US dominance in the world.

[ FULL STORY ]

EU defense ministers reiterated their commitment to sending troops to help Darfur refugees on Monday, but a lack of helicopters was holding up deployment of a force that should have been on the ground by now.

[ FULL STORY ]

MORE EFFECTIVE: The surge in efforts to train and equip the Frontier Corps comes amid a worrying escalation in violence along the lawless border with Afghanistan
The Pentagon wants to nearly double the funding to train and equip a Pakistani paramilitary force, saying the locally based fighters are more effective in the difficult region bordering Afghanistan.

[ FULL STORY ]

RESPITE: Fran Townsend is only taking a break from public service, she says, and wants to work in risk management for the private financial sector
Fran Townsend, the leading White House-based terrorism adviser who gave public updates on the extent of the threat to US security, is stepping down after four-and-a half years.

[ FULL STORY ]

A whale that swam some 1,600km up the Amazon could get a ship ride back to the ocean, environmentalists said on Monday.

[ FULL STORY ]

The Colombian government on Monday set a deadline next month for efforts by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to secure a prisoner swap with the country's main guerrilla group.

[ FULL STORY ]

Iraqi troops detained 43 people, among them Sri Lankans, Nepalese and Iraqis, after a shooting incident involving the convoy of a private security company in Baghdad, the US military said yesterday.

[ FULL STORY ]

The US military is seeking a criminal case in an Iraqi court against an award-winning Associated Press photographer, but is refusing to disclose what evidence or accusations would be presented.

[ FULL STORY ]

■ BANGLADESH

[ FULL STORY ]