World - Reuters

MANILA (Reuters) - Gunmen abducted and killed at least 21 people in the southern Philippines Monday, apparently to prevent a woman filing her husband's nomination to run for provincial governor in elections next year, the military said.

HEGANG, China (Reuters) - Relatives of victims of a gas blast at a mine in northeastern China scuffled with police and demanded answers from the owners on Monday as state media put the toll from the country's latest mine disaster at 104.

KABUL (Reuters) - Two Afghan cabinet ministers are being investigated under suspicion of embezzlement, a deputy attorney general said on Monday, at a time when President Hamid Karzai faces tough Western pressure to clean up his government.

HANGU, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces, backed by tanks and artillery, attacked Taliban positions in the northwest of the country, killing 22 militants, a senior police official on Monday.

RIYADH (Reuters) - More than two million Muslims gather this week for the annual haj pilgrimage to Islam's holy city of Mecca, where Saudi authorities hope to minimize spread of the H1N1 virus and prevent any political demonstration.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Israel has softened its terms for a prisoner swap with Hamas and the two enemies are nearing a deal to exchange hundreds of Palestinian inmates for an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip, officials said Monday.

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The Khmer Rouge's chief torturer ran a camp "dedicated to death" with broad autonomy, a lawyer said on Monday in closing arguments at the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal in Cambodia.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A forensics team has found the remains of a British journalist kidnapped by Palestinian militants in Lebanon 24 years ago, the British embassy said on Monday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Eight soldiers were killed and two injured Monday when munitions exploded at a Russian navy arms depot, 10 days after a series of blasts ripped through the same complex, the Defense Ministry said.

BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - India's army tested a nuclear-capable Agni missile after sunset on Monday for the first time to demonstrate it could be fired whenever required, defense officials said.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - An overloaded ferry sank in bad weather off Indonesia's Riau islands on Sunday, killing 29 people, while 245 passengers survived the accident, officials said.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi authorities are investigating large-scale fraud at Baghdad municipality where employees have stolen millions of dollars, officials said on Monday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese dissident who tried to help victims of last year's Sichuan earthquake was jailed for three years on Monday on charges of illegally possessing state secrets, his wife said, decrying the sentence as "revenge."

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Pakistan-based militant group that attacked the Indian city of Mumbai a year ago remains an implacable Indian foe and could strike again despite Pakistani efforts to rein it in.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament passed an investment law on Monday that would allow foreigners to own land for housing projects, and is designed to streamline regulations and applications for foreign investment, lawmakers said.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - The Taiwan government said on Monday it was not claiming the territorial waters around two small islands that have long been part of its frontline defense against political rival China.

ASTANA (Reuters) - Uzbekistan has closed its border with central Asian neighbor Kazakhstan to all but citizens of each nation returning home, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said on Monday, as swine flu spreads in both countries.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Three Saudi soldiers were killed and an unspecified number wounded as they fought to stop new cross-border raids by Yemeni rebels, the Saudi-owned daily Asharq al-Awsat reported on its website on Sunday.