It might only have four uninspiring and old-fashioned verses, but Spain has finally found the words to match its national anthem -- which has been lyric-less since 1978, three years after the death of the dictator General Franco.

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INTRANSIGENCE: People may be weary of violence, but a resolution seems far off as ruling and opposition parties appear to be only hardening their positions
Kenya's opposition leaders on Friday called for three days of nationwide protests next week and urged foreign governments to impose sanctions over the country's flawed elections last month.

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A Greenpeace ship found the Japanese whaling fleet off Antarctica yesterday, the environmental group said -- setting off this year's round of a cat-and-mouse contest that has become a sometimes dangerous feature of the hunting debate.

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South Africa's top cops are gunning for each other in a bruising battle that raises concerns about the fight against crime in a country with more than 50 murders each day -- and even about the future of the fledgling democracy.

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MESSY LEGACY: Doctors said the ex-dictator improved, but plans were being made for his funeral. If he dies before facing charges, his family will have to defend him
The health of the Indonesian ex-dictator Suharto improved yesterday, a day after he suffered multiple organ failure, as the government said it wanted to settle a graft case against him out of court.

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An unemployed Dutch bricklayer who was made a scapegoat for one of the defining moments of modern German history has been pardoned 75 years later.

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INTO THE FOLD: The move by Ammar al-Hakim, a powerful Shiite figure, puts pressure on the prime minister to include Sunni factions in US-backed efforts at reconciliation
One of Iraq's most powerful Shiite political and religious figures issued a stunning call for the government to set aside differences with Sunni Muslim politicians and entice them back to help lead the country.

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US President George W. Bush turned yesterday from Middle East peacemaking to the Iraq war, hearing from his top advisers in the theater as he looks toward a new assessment that will be closely watched for whether more US troops can start coming home.

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged European and Latin American governments on Friday to stop branding Colombian Marxists guerrillas as terrorists, a day after welcoming two hostages released by the rebels.

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Authorities said they believe they have found the shallow grave of a pregnant Marine in the backyard of a comrade she accused of rape and a person close to the case said the suspect left a note insisting the woman had killed herself.

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`FAIRY TALE': Bill and Hillary Clinton said comments on former president Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama have been `misconstrued' as primaries loom in the south
The Clinton campaign moved on Friday to try to quell a potentially damaging reaction to recent comments by Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton that have drawn criticism from African-Americans just as the presidential primary campaign reached southern states with significant numbers of black voters.

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy's ex-wife has lost a legal battle to stop publication of a book in which she allegedly called him a "womanizer" and other choice epithets.

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