World News

LONDON (AFP) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned fellow world leaders on Sunday that they "cannot afford to fail" to strike a substantial deal on climate change in Copenhagen next month.

LONDON (AFP) - Clean-up efforts were underway Sunday in flood-hit towns following the heaviest downpours ever recorded in England, as fears mounted for a woman thought swept into a swollen river in Wales.

BUCHAREST (AFP) - Romania's incumbent president and his Social-Democrat rival will face a run-off after Sunday's first round election, exit polls showed, as the recent EU member tries to recover from a political crisis and a deep recession.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - The coup last summer in this tiny, Central American country blew up into an international incident, with thousands of Hondurans taking to the streets while everyone from Barack Obama to Fidel Castro lined up behind ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela has no interest in talking directly to Colombia to end a monthslong crisis but would support an effort by other South American nations to broker a solution, a top government official said Sunday.

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez is hailing the forthcoming arrival of 300 Russian-made tanks and armored vehicles, and urging civilians to join government-organized militias to be ready to defend Venezuela from a foreign invasion.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan on Sunday announced a six-day delay to long-awaited elections to make up for hold-ups in registering millions of voters in the oil-producing country.

ALGIERS (AFP) - An Algiers court on Sunday cleared two men held at Guantanamo Bay for seven years, according to a legal source.

BANJUL (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Gambia on Sunday for a 24-hour working visit aimed at fostering relations between the Islamic republic and the West African nation.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday started a high-profile state visit to the United States with a call on President Barack Obama to stay committed on Afghanistan and pressure Pakistan.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived Sunday in the United States for the first state visit under President Barack Obama, an Indian official said.

HEGANG, China (AFP) - The death toll from a coal mine blast in northeast China climbed to 92 on Sunday as rescuers hunted for 16 workers still trapped deep underground in the nation's deadliest mine disaster in two years.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's ruling Conservatives and the main opposition Liberals both lost ground in a poll published on Friday as the left-leaning New Democrats enjoyed a surprising surge in public support.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Enough H1N1 flu vaccine for almost half of Canada's population will have been shipped out by the end of the next week, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said on Friday.

MIAMI (Reuters) - TD Bank was hit with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit on Friday calling it the "financial epicenter" of an alleged Ponzi scheme run by disgraced Florida lawyer Scott Rothstein.

RYLSTONE, Australia (AFP) - Hundreds of residents in eastern Australia were on alert Sunday as out-of-control wildfires fanned by soaring temperatures and windy conditions threatened properties, officials said.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Two executives at a banknote-making firm part-owned by Australia's central bank have been suspended over a police probe into alleged bribery and kickbacks, officials said.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia said it was "deeply disappointed" after a fleet of Japanese whaling ships set out to kill hundreds of the giant ocean mammals on their annual hunt.

MONTREAL (AFP) - Facebook can be a double-edged sword, a Canadian woman learned when an insurance company cut her health benefits, claiming she was healthy after seeing pictures of her smiling in bikini at the beach.

BROMONT, Quebec - A Canadian woman on long-term sick leave for depression says she lost her benefits because her insurance agent found photos of her on Facebook in which she appeared to be having fun.

GENEVA - Scientists are preparing the world's largest atom smasher to explore the depths of matter after successfully restarting the $10 billion machine following more than a year of repairs.