World News

NASIRIYAH, Iraq - The French foreign minister arrived Saturday in the southern city of Nasiriyah for his second visit to Iraq in less than a year as Paris seeks to rebuild ties with the war-torn nation.

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military says a Marine has died in a non-combat related incident in Iraq.

ANKARA, Turkey - Air raids two days ago destroyed 16 Kurdish rebel facilities in northern Iraq, Turkey's military said Saturday.

EL-ARISH, Egypt - Boxes of ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft missiles have been found in a mountain in the northern Sinai peninsula, an Egyptian police official said Saturday.

BAGHDAD - Plans for provincial elections in Iraq by the fall have already set Sunni Arabs against each other as factions prepare to compete for control of the local governments that will wield considerable power over security and finances.

LONDON (AFP) - Portugal boss Luiz Felipe Scolari on Saturday played down a possible move to Chelsea, insisting the Premier League side have made no contact with him over their managerial vacancy.

PORTSMOUTH (AFP) - Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp confirmed Saturday that he is hoping to sign Manchester City defender Richard Dunne.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived in Iraq on Saturday on an unannounced visit to underline the "renewed political commitment of France" to the war-ravaged nation, diplomats said.

BELFAST (AFP) - Ian Paisley, a giant of Northern Ireland politics for 40 years, passes the reins of his party Saturday to Peter Robinson, who takes over as First Minister of the British province next week.

PARIS (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin was treated like a president in Paris on his first visit to a Western capital as prime minister, reinforcing an impression that he still runs Russia even after leaving the Kremlin.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - A jetliner overshot a runway and raced onto a busy street in the Honduran capital on Friday, killing the pilot, two passengers and a motorist on the ground. At least 65 people were injured.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - The remnants of Tropical Storm Alma dumped rain on Honduras on Friday and led to the death of a child who was swept away by a swollen stream.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is keeping his information minister in his post despite an offer by the top aide to resign.

ASUNCION, Paraguay - President-elect Fernando Lugo's footwear is raising eyebrows at official events, but the former clergyman's "bishop sandals" are catching on with Paraguayans.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Brazil's government agreed to release stunning photos of Amazon Indians firing arrows at an airplane so that the world can better understand the threats facing one of the few tribes still living in near-total isolation from civilization, officials said Friday.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Anti-immigrant violence in South Africa killed 62 people and wounded 670 this month, police said Saturday, raising an earlier toll of 56 dead after several victims died in hospital.

LAGOS (AFP) - Smokers in public places in Nigeria's capital Abuja will be arrested and prosecuted from June 1, a senior health department official for the federal capital said on Saturday.

HARARE (AFP) - A senior Zimbabwean army official has publicly urged soldiers to vote for President Robert Mugabe in next month's presidential election run-off, a state daily reported Saturday.

UNITED NATIONS - A draft U.N. resolution finalized on Friday would allow foreign ships to enter Somali waters to capture and prevent acts of piracy and armed robbery.

SAN'A, Yemen - A shooting rampage during Friday prayers left eight worshippers dead and more than two dozen wounded, the second attack this month on a mosque in northern Yemen.

KABUL (AFP) - A suicide car bomb exploded Saturday near an international military convoy in eastern Afghanistan, injuring four coalition troops, officials said.

BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand's prime minister on Saturday ordered police and soldiers to break up an extended anti-government protest, setting the stage for a showdown with demonstrators who have refused to move.

DHAKA (Reuters) - Nearly 50 grassroot leaders were detained in Bangladesh late on Friday, police said, after the country's key political parties rejected an offer of talks with the army-backed interim government on elections scheduled later this year.

COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels condemned government moves to devolve more power to the north and east as they reported killing 31 troops in fresh fighting, according to a pro-rebel website Saturday.

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea questioned Saturday U.S. willingness to settle an ongoing nuclear dispute after criticisms by Washington included in a report on global democracy.

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A man stabbed to death a tenant in the basement of his suburban Calgary home on Tuesday evening, then went upstairs and killed his wife, two of his three young children and, finally, himself, Calgary police said on Friday.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Canada will move helicopters and unmanned aircraft to Afghanistan to increase surveillance of roads, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said on Saturday, as the Taliban stepped up attacks in spite of a large NATO force in the country.

MONTREAL (Reuters) - Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Friday that Canada is not headed for a recession even though the latest domestic data shows the economy shrank unexpectedly in the first quarter.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Supreme Court of Canada will decide next week whether to hear an appeal of a lower court decision that could derail the C$34.8 billion ($35.2 billion) plan to take telecoms giant BCE Inc. private.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Menu Foods Income Fund said on Friday that a U.S. court gave preliminary approval to a settlement agreement covering lawsuits in U.S. and Canadian courts.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's Origin Energy Ltd. said Friday its directors had decided to reject a revised offer from British energy giant BG Group valuing it at about 13.6 billion dollars (13 billion US).

SYDNEY (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI will meet Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu leaders during his visit to Australia in July, organisers said Wednesday.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Human remains found at a World War I battlefield in France will likely reveal a mass grave of hundreds of lost allied soldiers, Australian officials said Wednesday.

SYDNEY, Australia - News Corp. boss Rupert Murdoch's 99-year-old mother beat Australian tax authorities in court Wednesday over a tax bill on an $81 million payment.

SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian Muslim group charged Wednesday that a Sydney council's refusal to allow an Islamic school to be set up in its area was a "victory for racism".

TOKYO - A homeless woman who sneaked into a man's house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Brazil's government agreed to release stunning photos of Amazon Indians firing arrows at an airplane so that the world can better understand the threats facing one of the few tribes still living in near-total isolation from civilization, officials said Friday.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - A jetliner overshot a runway and raced onto a busy street in the Honduran capital on Friday, killing the pilot, two passengers and a motorist on the ground. At least 65 people were injured.

LONDON - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is downplaying the idea of a nuclear attack by terrorists after recent postings on al-Qaida-affiliated Web sites exhorted militants to pursue weapons of mass destruction for use against the U.S.

MIANYANG, China - Chinese authorities had evacuated nearly 200,000 people by early Saturday and warned more than 1 million others to be ready to leave quickly as a lake formed by a devastating earthquake threatened to breach its dam.