GOING BALLISTIC: The Pakistani army yesterday fired a locally developed missile that has a range of 700km and is capable of carrying nuclear weapons
Pakistani Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani yesterday dismissed "unrealistic" international fears that the country's nuclear weapons could fall into extremist hands, an army statement said.

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Doctors treating former Indonesian dictator Suharto said yesterday he could be released from intensive care within a couple days after breathing on his own and beating back a blood infection.

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An ethnic Chinese man was buried as a Muslim following a court ruling, triggering angry protests yesterday from his family, who said he was a Buddhist and had never converted to Islam.

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A Japanese father has called for his own son to hang after a gruesome murder spree in which the teenager killed three family members before slashing open his mother's belly and putting a doll inside.

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SARKOZY TRIP: The French president arrived in New Delhi yesterday without his ex-model girlfriend, but the media are still hoping she shows up today at the Taj Mahal
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was in India yesterday on a state visit aimed at boosting political ties, pushing for a bigger share of the booming Asian economy and revitalizing weapons sales

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WHALERS NOT WELCOME: Japan had agreed to limit its hunt to Australian waters this year, after its factory ship was crippled near New Zealand last year
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark warned Japanese whaling ships yesterday that surveillance photos of the fleet revealing their location would be published if they entered New Zealand's Antarctic waters.

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A high-speed Chinese train ran through a group of maintenance workers in the dark on Wednesday, killing 18 and injuring nine in the nation's worst railway accident in years, state media said yesterday.

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Child mortality among China's rural poor and its millions of migrants remains high despite overall improvements, state media quoted the WHO as saying yesterday.

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STARTING CIVILITY: The president of Kenya and the opposition leader smiled and shook hands after the meeting mediated by former UN chief Kofi Annan on Thursday
Former UN chief Kofi Annan was set to push for further talks yesterday between feuding Kenyan leaders to end a political crisis, one day after organizing their first face-to-face meeting.

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Egyptian guards with riot shields formed human chains along the Egypt-Gaza border yesterday, but were unable to stop hundreds of Palestinians from rushing into Egypt after a bulldozer wrecked another section of fence along the frontier.

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Embattled British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Thursday suffered his first Cabinet loss since taking office when a minister resigned amid allegations of funding irregularities.

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The Democratic Republic of Congo government on Thursday officially declared a ceasefire in the embattled east following a peace deal signed by warring parties, the defense ministry said.

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TURNING UP THE PRESSURE: Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged business and political leaders to withdraw from Iran
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni appealed to the global political and business elite gathered in Davos on Thursday to make the personal decision to pull out of Iran and isolate the Islamic republic.

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NOT A PRIORITY: Colombian union leaders who oppose the free-trade deal claimed that violence against unionized workers is still too high, with 25 killed last year alone
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday that Colombia's problems could get worse unless the US Congress approves a free-trade deal with the world's most dangerous country for labor organizing.

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A suicide bomber dressed as a policeman killed a top Iraqi police chief in the volatile northern city of Mosul on Thursday as he toured the scene of a bomb blast in which 34 people died, police said.

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GOING, GOING: The Brazilian government said that up to 7,000km2 of forest was cleared from August through last month, spurred by high prices for crops and cattle
Brazil will combat rising deforestation in the Amazon by sending extra federal police and environmental agents to areas where illegal clearing of the rain forest jumped dramatically last year, officials said on Thursday.

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Fidel Castro revealed on Thurs-day he thought he was dying when he fell ill in July 2006, and was so worried about his legacy that he ordered last-minute editing of his memoirs even as doctors struggled to save his life.

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A teenage passenger from Califor-nia was arrested in Nashville for plotting to hijack a plane from Los Angeles to Nashville, the FBI said yesterday.

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