UNRULY NEIGHBOR: Beijing did not deny claims made in a report by US think tanks that it had plans in place to send troops into North Korea to secure nuclear weapons
China has contingency plans to dispatch troops into North Korea and secure nuclear weapons in the event of instability in the hardline communist state, US experts who have talked to Chinese military researchers said.

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A Sri Lankan government minister was killed and 10 others wounded yesterday in a powerful roadside bomb attack by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels near the island's capital, officials said.

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AFTERMATH: An official at the devastated building said that his company had met representatives of the victims and would offer compensation if requested
Police questioned company officials yesterday to determine the cause of a devastating fire at a cold storage warehouse that left 40 people dead and 10 injured, some with severe burns.

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A Canadian woman who was wounded in a scuffle with a Thai policeman said the officer attacked her, fatally shot her friend and then fabricated a story that the pair had picked a fight with him, a newspaper reported yesterday.

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CZECHS NEXT? : The new prime minister said that Poland 'definitely shouldn't hurry on the missile defense issue,' a sharp departure from the previous leader's stance
Poland's new prime minister broke from the staunchly pro-US stance of his predecessor, saying in comments published on Monday he will not rush a decision on hosting a US missile defense base -- a tough line that appears to underscore the Bush administration's weakening clout with allies.

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PRIORITIES: The pontiff mentioned many areas of conflict in the world including Kenya, the Middle East, Myanmar and Sudan's Darfur region
Pope Benedict XVI urged the world on Monday to prevent terrorists from getting their hands on weapons of mass destruction and called for continued diplomatic efforts over Iran's nuclear program.

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A British man went on trial on Monday accused of sending miniature bottles of vodka contaminated with caustic soda to public figures as part of a campaign hatched by pro-independence Scottish "terrorists."

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Dozens of looters who profited from Kenya's post-election unrest began returning or dumping their ill-gotten gains around the port city of Mombasa on Monday, frightened of cursed goods, police said.

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The first witness in former Liberian president Charles Taylor's war crimes trial testified that Sierra Leone rebels backed by Taylor mutilated and terrorized civilians to seize diamond fields and that Taylor used the profits to buy weapons.

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UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday appealed to Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front to launch "substantive" negotiations to reach a mutually acceptable solution to their 32-year dispute over the Western Sahara.

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THE DEPTHS OF DEPRAVITY: Sunni allies of the US in Iraq blamed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden for ordering 'barbaric' attacks against Iraqi 'awakening councils'
A key leader of a US-backed Sunni armed group was blown apart in an al-Qaeda in Iraq double suicide bombing, days after Osama bin Laden condemned the new US allies and said they would "suffer in life and in the afterlife."

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A British man who once came within days of being executed was released from an Ohio prison on Monday after spending more than 21 years on death row, court officials said.

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For the first time in more than 50 years, the US Marine Corps has launched a special tribunal to publicly investigate allegations a newly formed special forces unit killed as many as 19 Afghan civilians in March after their convoy was rammed by a car bomb.

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White House hopeful Hillary Clinton choked back tears as she struggled to avert a bruising defeat at the hands of rival Barack Obama in yesterday's New Hampshire presidential primary.

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■ CHINA

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