CASUALTIES: Militants disputed the Pakistani army's report of killing 30 rebels, claiming only a few of its fighters were wounded and six soldiers were killed
Hundreds of panicked families fled an area in northwestern Pakistan where security forces pounded militants' hideouts, killing 30 of them, officials and residents said yesterday.

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Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Friday challenged anyone to prove how Feb. 18 parliamentary elections could be rigged, and vowed they would be held on time.

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North Korea has proposed a cutback in a cross-border railway freight service launched with much fanfare last month, citing a lack of cargo, a South Korean military official said yesterday.

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Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Malaysians appeared to be ready for general elections -- in his clearest indication so far that early polls are near.

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The worst snowfalls in a decade caused traffic chaos across much of China yesterday as millions of people tried to head home for the Lunar New Year holiday, state media reported.

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CEMENTING TIES: The French president joined India's first woman president, Pratibha Patil, for Republic Day celebrations before paying a visit to the Taj Mahal
French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid honor to India's armed forces yesterday as the guest of honor at the country's Republic Day celebrations during a two-day visit aimed at cementing Indo-French ties.

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Fighting across Sri Lanka's north has left at least 31 people dead, nearly all of them Tamil Tiger rebels, the island's military said yesterday.

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A former Sri Lankan Tamil guerrilla leader was jailed for nine months in Britain on Friday after being found guilty of having false documents, the Home Office said.

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DENTS AND DIVOTS: The accused said they were fired upon before they fired at Afghan civilians. Damage to their vehicle supported this assertion
A defense witness said damage to a vehicle confirmed the version of events of a group of US Marines who said they were ambushed before they allegedly fired into a group of Afghan civilians, killing as many as 19 people.

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Police will question Indonesian intelligence agents for the first time about their alleged involvement in the poisoning death of a top human rights activist after a former pilot was convicted for the murder.

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Myanmar has arrested almost 100 dissidents since it promised a UN envoy there would be no more detentions, Amnesty International said.

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REASONABLE GROUNDS: The new sanctions include a ban on travel by Iranian officials involved in nuclear and missile programs and thorough cargo inspection mechanisms
The Security Council will begin tomorrow to review a package of marginally tougher UN sanctions to pressure Iran into ending its nuclear defiance and its growing isolation.

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GET SERIOUS: Rock star Bono slammed the international community for its failure to live up to its promises. Bill Gates unveiled a US$306 million grant for poor farmers
The annual Davos gathering of corporate wealth and political power turned its lofty gaze on the world's poor on Friday, with delegates chided over failures to deliver on development goals.

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Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan was set yesterday to push to break the deadlock in Kenya's political crisis a day after fresh ethnic strife cast a pall over efforts to halt the killings.

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It was an American, General Douglas MacArthur, who famously reflected that "old soldiers never die; they just fade away."

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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe announced on Friday that the crisis-hit country would stage a general election on March 29, when he will seek a sixth term in office.

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HEADING SOUTH: A poll on Friday showed Barack Obama leading Hillary Clinton in the state by 38 percent to 30 percent with strong backing from African-Americans
Democratic voters in South Carolina yesterday cast their votes in a presidential primary scarred by bad blood between the bitter rivals.

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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lunched with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at his ranch on Friday after meeting with 20 ex-paramilitary fighters to hear about their life stories.

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Shaken by two days of deadly bombings, the government said it would dispatch several thousand more security forces to Mosul in a "decisive" bid to drive al-Qaeda in Iraq from its last major stronghold.

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Saddam Hussein allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction to deter rival Iran and did not think the US would stage a major invasion, according to an FBI interrogator who questioned the Iraqi leader after his capture.

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SCHEME: US officials said the man hid the source of US$800,000 carried into Argentina in a suitcase in August, allegedly as a campaign donation
A Venezuelan man has pleaded guilty in a scheme to cover up the source of US$800,000 in a suitcase seized in Argentina, where it was allegedly sent by Venezuelans as a donation to Cristina Fernandez's presidential campaign.

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BANGLADESH:
BANGLADESH

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