World - AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President Barack Obama, fighting for his top domestic priority, urged fellow Democrats in the House of Representatives to "vote yes" Saturday on the broadest US health care overhaul in a half-century.

KABUL (AFP) - Seven Afghan security personnel were killed in a mis-targeted NATO air strike in the remote northwest of the country, the defence ministry said Saturday.

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran has decided to reject proposals from major powers for the supply of nuclear fuel, a leading member of parliament said on Saturday, in a serious setback for UN-brokered efforts to allay Western concerns about its atomic ambitions.

FORT HOOD, Texas (AFP) - Investigators on Saturday worked to uncover the motives of a Muslim army doctor suspected of killing 13 people and wounding 30 others in a shooting rampage at a US military base.

AL-KHUBAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) - Saudi forces pounded Yemeni rebels on Saturday for a fifth straight day as Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh ruled out a truce in his war on the Shiite insurgents.

BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanese prime minister-designate Saad Hariri was preparing to announce a new government on Saturday after granting concessions to his rivals in the Hezbollah-led opposition on key cabinet posts.

NAIROBI (AFP) - Top war crimes prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said on Saturday he has a strong case against the masterminds behind last year's post-election violence in Kenya.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday that his "Russophobe" Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko was the sole reason for the decline in relations between the two countries.

MIAMI (AFP) - Mexico's government issued a hurricane warning on Saturday as a strengthening tropical storm Ida bore down on the country's Yucatan peninsula.

FORT HOOD, Texas (AFP) - US President Barack Obama led his nation in mourning Friday as shocked Americans struggled to understand why a Muslim army doctor unleashed a massacre at a US military base, killing 13.

KABUL (AFP) - Seven members of the Afghan security forces were killed in a NATO air strike in remote western Afghanistan, the defence ministry said on Saturday.

TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) - Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, ousted in a military-backed coup four months ago, called for fresh protests Friday after the collapse of a US-brokered deal to end the crisis.

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel is keen on Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas staying in office despite his announcement he will not seek re-election, officials said Friday.

MADRID (AFP) - Families of the crew of a Spanish tuna trawler being held by Somali pirates appealed to Spain's government on Friday to negotiate with the kidnappers, who have threatened to kill the hostages.

JIZAN, Saudi Arabia (AFP) - Saudi Arabia said Friday its jets and ground forces blasted Yemen rebels on the two countries' rugged border after being attacked and briefly occupied by the Shiite insurgents.

ASUNCION (AFP) - President Fernando Lugo sacked the head of Paraguay's armed forces on Friday, two days after firing a trio of top military commanders amid rumors of a potential coup, government sources said.

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - A Pakistani brigadier escaped assassination Friday in the third gun attack targeting top brass in the capital as the army claimed further gains in a major anti-Taliban offensive in the northwest.

MANAGUA (AFP) - Nicaragua's Caribbean coast faced a battering by high winds and heavy rains Friday, as remnants of hurricane Ida wrecked homes and officials warned as many as 40,000 could be affected by the storm.

PARIS (AFP) - French fashion giant Chanel was accused in court Friday of stealing a supplier's design in a case that could have a bearing on the rights of skilled artisans toiling in the luxury industry.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AFP) - An American army major went on a shooting rampage Thursday at a Texas military base killing 11 people and wounding 31 others before being gunned down, army officials said.

KABUL (AFP) - The United Nations announced Thursday it will evacuate more than half its international staff based in Afghanistan after a deadly Taliban attack on UN workers, prompting a dismayed reaction from NATO.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Thursday he will not seek re-election as he voiced frustration with the US position on Israeli settlements and delivered a major blow to Washington's Middle East peace efforts.

THE HAGUE (AFP) - A UN warcrimes court Thursday imposed a lawyer on Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and put off to March 1 the genocide trial he has boycotted since it started last week.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AFP) - Israel called on Thursday for the international community to take action against Iran, blaming Tehran for dispatching a weapons-laden ship to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Two Russian nationalists have been arrested and charged in the high-profile killings of a human rights lawyer and journalist who were gunned down in Moscow in January, officials said on Thursday.

MAPUTO (AFP) - Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday called off a boycott of power-sharing ties with President Robert Mugabe that had paralysed the fragile unity government for three weeks.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AFP) - The editor of a newspaper that frequently criticised the secret police in ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan has died after a savage attack in which he was stabbed more than a dozen times, police said Thursday.

MANAGUA (AFP) - Hurricane Ida unleashed heavy winds and rain on thousands of residents of eastern Nicaragua Thursday, causing flooding and destroying homes, before being downgraded to a tropical storm.