World - AFP

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AFP) - Vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin denied wrongdoing Saturday after a probe found she had abused voters' trust as Alaska governor, in a new blow to John McCain's trailing White House campaign.

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) - A missile strike by a suspected US spy drone late Saturday killed four people in a Pakistani tribal area seen as a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants near the Afghan border.

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe handed key ministries to his own party on Saturday, prompting an outraged opposition to warn that he may have jeopardised a four-week old power-sharing agreement.

ISTANBUL (AFP) - Turkish authorities claimed to have foiled a probable suicide attack by a suspected Kurdish militant in Istanbul on Saturday as the military stepped up bombing raids on rebel hideouts in northern Iraq.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia indicated Saturday it would only participate in international talks on Georgia if representatives from the breakaway regions at the centre of the August hostilities were allowed to attend.

MOSCOW (AFP) - A strong earthquake centred in the restive Russian region of Chechnya killed at least 13 people, injured more than 100 others and caused widespread havoc on Saturday, officials said.

LA PAZ, Mexico (AFP) - Hurricane Norbert has struck Mexico's northwest Pacific coast, ripping off roofs, knocking down trees and leaving one person missing and more than 20,000 homes without electricity, local authorities said.

LUANDA (AFP) - Angola is pulling out the stops to bury an arms case now before French courts in which President Jose Eduardo dos Santos is suspected of receiving millions in kickbacks, sources say.

LIMA (AFP) - Peruvian President Alan Garcia on Saturday named Yehude Simon, a leftist governor once jailed for alleged links to outlawed Tupac Amaru rebels, as the country's next prime minister.

LA PAZ, Mexico (AFP) - Hurricane Norbert struck Mexico's northwest Pacific coast Saturday, ripping off roofs, knocking down trees and leaving more than 20,000 homes without electricity, local authorities said.

VIENNA (AFP) - Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider, who sparked outrage with comments praising Nazi policies, died in a car crash Saturday, prompting shocked tributes and speculation about the country's political future.

OSLO (AFP) - The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who has spent 30 years helping end conflicts in troublespots ranging from Kosovo to Namibia and Indonesia.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - A suicide bomber blew himself up at a meeting of anti-Taliban tribal leaders in a Pakistani region near the Afghan border Friday, killing at least 32 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Mourners shouted anti-US slogans and torched American and Israeli flags in Baghdad's Shiite bastion after a radical MP was buried Friday, as fresh attacks killed at least 19 people across Iraq.

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (AFP) - Democrat Barack Obama Friday rebuked John McCain for preaching a politics of "anger and division," as his Republican rival fired off new attacks vowing to fight back from his underdog position.

GORI, Georgia (AFP) - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Friday that "a long road" lay ahead to resolve issues remaining from August's Georgia-Russia war, even after Russian troops withdrew from buffer zones around Georgia's rebel regions.

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe agreed on Friday to allow in outside mediation in a bid to break a four-week deadlock over cabinet posts in a new unity government with his political rivals.

LIMA (AFP) - Shining Path guerrillas ambushed a military convoy in southern Peru, killing at least 12 soldiers and seven civilians in the bloodiest attack in a decade in a country still haunted by the Maoist group's brutal insurgency, the military said Friday.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AFP) - Attackers dressed as police officers opened fire in a bar in Mexico's northern Chihuahua state, killing 11 people, authorities said Friday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee signed a pact Friday to open up sales of civilian nuclear technology to India for the first time in three decades.

NICOSIA (AFP) - Rival Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot leaders held private talks on Friday in a bid to speed up slow-moving negotiations on reunifying the divided Mediterranean island.

ROME (AFP) - Activists from Italy's left took to the streets of Rome Saturday to protest against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative policies and his avoiding prosecution for alleged corruption.

MOSCOW (AFP) - A strong earthquake centred in the restive Russian region of Chechnya killed at least 12 people, injured more than 100 others and caused widespread havoc on Saturday, an official said.

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korean television on Saturday showed photographs of Kim Jong-Il, the first time in almost two months the reportedly ailing leader has been pictured by the communist state's official media.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AFP) - Turmoil rocked John McCain's White House bid Saturday after a probe accused his running-mate Sarah Palin of abuse of power and he was booed by supporters he told to cool anti-Barack Obama abuse.

MOSCOW (AFP) - At least 12 people were killed and another 105 injured in an earthquake that shook the restive Russian region of Chechnya on Saturday, a government official said.

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe farmed out key ministries in a new unity government to his party in defiance of a long-awaited power-sharing deal, amid opposition outrage on Saturday at the "giant act of madness".

VIENNA (AFP) - Outspoken Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider, who sparked international outrage with comments praising Nazi policies, died on Saturday when his car veered off the road.