CANCELED TRIP: The Philippine president's visit to a premier military academy this weekend was canceled because of fears that Abu Sayyaf was preparing an attack
The Philippine government has uncovered an alleged plot by al-Qaeda-linked militants to assassinate President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, officials said yesterday.

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Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif accused President Pervez Musharraf of planning to rig next week's elections, describing it as a move that could trigger uncontrollable unrest and tear Pakistan apart.

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DEATH TOLL: Since the government withdrew from a 2002 ceasefire last month, violence has escalated and nearly 1,500 people have fallen victim to the conflict
Government troops fighting Tamil Tiger separatists across the jungles of northern Sri Lanka killed 52 rebel fighters in recent days, the military said yesterday.

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Australian troops backed by helicopters hunted yesterday for suspects in the attacks on East Timor's top leaders as new details emerged on the strike that left the president critically wounded.

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Malaysia will hold its next general election on March 8 in a vote expected to return the ruling coalition to power despite religious and racial tensions that spilled into the streets last year with protests by minority Indians that stunned the nation.

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NATO NEEDS: The French president is not expected to announce a decision until April, but his choices range from sending in special forces to providing more trainers
In US military terms, it's gut-check time for NATO in Afghanistan, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy appears ready to answer allies' calls for more force to fight the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed yesterday his intention to wield significant power as premier when he leaves the Kremlin after next month's presidential election.

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Five British Muslim youths jailed for downloading terrorist propaganda were freed on Wednesday after a three-judge panel headed by the country's most senior judge overturned their convictions.

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Iran summoned the Danish ambassador to Tehran in protest over the reprinting of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed by leading Danish newspapers, state TV reported yesterday.

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Police overcame a man armed with a box cutter who held a dozen children and a teacher hostage for ransom at a nursery school in southern Italy on Wednesday, a spokesman said.

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AWAITING RESULTS: Toxological tests could take several weeks, but no sign of foul play emerged in the postmortem of the Georgian opposition leader's body
Georgian opposition leader Badri Patarkatsishvili died of natural causes, according to initial post mortem tests released by British police yesterday.

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EXPLOSIVE: The US military said an official at a psychiatric hospital was suspected of providing insurgents with details on mentally disabled women for suicide attacks
When twin blasts ravaged crowded pet markets earlier this month, Iraqi authorities offered a chilling account: Mentally disabled women carried the hidden explosives perhaps as unwitting bombers for al-Qaeda in Iraq.

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A British journalist kidnapped in Iraq's southern city of Basra was expected to be freed yesterday, a member of a powerful Shiite militia engaged in negotiating his release told reporters.

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Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's crushing losses in Maryland and Virginia highlight an erosion in what had been solid advantages among women, whites and older and working-class voters.

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A US embassy official accused of asking a US student and Peace Corps volunteers to collect information on Venezuelans and Cubans in Bolivia will not return to the country, an embassy official confirmed on Wednesday.

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A retired teacher who now spends his time campaigning for improved literacy has revealed that he taught classes for 17 years even though he could not read or write.

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THOUSANDS BLOCK HIGHWAY: Paraguay urgently needs 600,000 doses of vaccine, but it only has 100,000 in stock and promises of aid are not expected to help much
Some 4,000 people demanding vaccinations against yellow fever blockaded a highway near the capital on Wednesday, a week after the disease made its first appearance in humans in Paraguay in 34 years.

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■ THAILAND

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