DIFFERENT STORIES: NATO did not comment on a provincial report that all the Taliban insurgents had been driven out, but said there had been minor incidents in the operation
Afghan and NATO forces cleared Taliban militants from villages near Kandahar yesterday, killing or wounding hundreds of rebels in a major operation, a provincial governor said.

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PROMISES: The South Korean president vowed to reshuffle his Cabinet and to seek guarantees against the US exporting older cattle, seen more at risk of disease
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak apologized for the second time in a month over his government’s handling of a US beef import deal, which has sparked massive street protests.

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Myanmar's military junta detained 12 opposition party members who called for the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as she marked her 63rd birthday yesterday, witnesses said.

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China has finished evacuating 110,000 people from an area near the epicenter of last month’s earthquake in Sichuan Province amid fears of possible landslides triggered by annual heavy rains, state media reported yesterday.

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The Beijing Olympic torch paraded through a key military post in China's Muslim-dominated northwestern region of Xinjiang yesterday as police patrolled for terrorist activities, the government said.

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SECURITY OR THREAT: Amara residents are divided as to whether a new wave of US and Iraqi forces will bring peace or a greater number of kidnappings and killings
Iraqi and US forces brought fear and hope to divided residents of Amara yesterday in a sweep that some saw bringing an end to killings in the city, while others believed it would be a fuse to spark even more violence.

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LAND GRAB?: Palestinian farmers in a West Bank town say that they were given notice that their land would be confiscated for an Israeli military base
The Israeli army ordered the confiscation of land in the northern West Bank to build a new military base, according to Palestinian residents who received notification of the move on Wednesday.

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CONSPIRACY: A British mercenary's testimony points to a US, Spanish and South African collaboration in the attempted overthrow of Equatorial Guinea's president
South Africa, Spain and the US each approved a plot to topple Equatorial Guinea’s president, British mercenary Simon Mann told a Malabo court on Wednesday.

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EU leaders have been forced to fight a crisis on two fronts at their midyear summit that began yesterday, as soaring food and fuel prices threaten economic gloom and social unrest, even as Ireland’s rejection of a key treaty plunges the bloc’s political plans into turmoil.

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A popular transsexual Turkish singer went on trial on Wednesday, charged with trying to turn the public against military service.

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RISING SEAS: A new study published in 'Nature' corrects the findings of last year's massive UN report by reconciling statistical models with researchers' empirical data
The world’s oceans have warmed 50 percent faster over the last 40 years than previously thought due to climate change, Australian and US climate researchers reported on Wednesday.

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ITEMIZED LIST: The US secretary of state told the Heritage Foundation the US would review Pyongyang's level of cooperation and push hard for verification
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday that North Korea would “soon” issue a declaration of all its nuclear weapons programs after missing a deadline under a six-party deal.

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Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito met Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday and thanked Brazil for opening its doors to what became the largest Japanese community outside of Japan.

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Colombian peasants devoted 27 percent more land to growing coca last year, the UN reported on Wednesday, calling the increase “a surprise and a shock” given intense efforts to eradicate cocaine’s raw ingredient.

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US President George W. Bush urged Congress on Wednesday to end a ban on offshore oil drilling, responding to consumer anxiety over soaring gasoline prices with a plan sure to anger environmentalists.

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