UP IN ARMS: Although coalition forces said they were shooting at armed militants,a provincial official said the casualties included two young children and a woman
US-led coalition troops killed three men, two children and a woman in a raid in southeastern Afghanistan, provincial officials and village residents said yesterday.

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Scores of inmates at Afghanistan's main jail, which holds Taliban prisoners, are reportedly on hunger strike with some having sewn their mouths shut, a parliamentarian told reporters on Tuesday.

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There is no evidence an Islamic militant suspect who escaped from detention in Singapore has fled to Indonesia as reported by an Indonesian newspaper, the government said yesterday.

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DILEMMA: Foreign relief agencies are scaling back operations amid continued attacks from extremists who apparently despise the aid groups because they employ women
Long-haired gunmen burst into the white stone building and killed four charity workers helping earthquake victims, then wrecked the office with grenades and set it on fire. Police came, but did not intervene.

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East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta, who was discharged from hospital yesterday, choked back tears as he recalled the day rebel soldiers shot him in an assassination attempt.

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Efforts to contain bird flu are failing in Indonesia, increasing the possibility that the virus may mutate into a deadlier form, the leading UN veterinary health body warned.

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BRUSQUE REMARK: Elsewhere, the Swiss foreign minister on Tuesday brushed aside US and Jewish criticism of a multibillion-dollar gas deal she helped clinch with Tehran
Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain, who is touting his foreign policy credentials, got tangled up briefly on Tuesday on which Islamic extremist group Iran is accused of supporting.

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Five Belgian parties on Tuesday sealed a deal for a coalition government under Christian Democrat Yves Leterme, ending a political limbo that threatened to split the linguistically divided country.

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Two British newspapers published front page apologies yesterday to the parents of missing toddler Madeleine McCann for suggesting the couple were responsible for the child's disappearance last year.

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NEIGHBOR: Despite the restoration of air travel, tensions remain over what Georgian authorities see as Russia's support for its breakaway provinces
Russia agreed on Tuesday to restore its air link with Georgia, which has been suspended for more than 17 months amid tensions between the ex-Soviet neighbors.

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REQUEST: The UN estimates that 700,000 Somalis fled their homes in and around Mogadishu last year, the vast majority to a `hunger zone' in the south and southwest
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the international community to seize "the strategic moment" to build the foundations for peace in Somalia by beefing up UN political efforts and deploying an 8,000-strong multinational force to the conflict-wracked nation.

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`UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCES': Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier was quick to indicate that Kosovo's new status had no implications for Quebec's future
Canada recognized Kosovo's independence on Tuesday, but stressed it was not setting a precedent to be exploited by the Quebec separatist movement.

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The secretaries of state in California and Ohio were named winners of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award on Tuesday for challenging the reliability of electronic voting systems.

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Torrential rains chased hundreds of people from their flooded homes and deluged roads in the US midsection on Tuesday, killing at least two people in Missouri and sweeping a teen down a drainage pipe near Dallas.

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International human rights and journalism advocacy groups called on Tuesday on Cuban President Raul Castro's government to free critics still serving long sentences five years after a broad crackdown that landed 75 people behind bars.

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EVERYDAY WOES: Polls have consistently shown that rampant crime, food shortages and double-digit inflation are key concerns for the Venezuelan public
Public support for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government has significantly declined, two polls published on Tuesday found.

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■ SRI LANKA