World - AFP

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel said on Monday there was no deal yet on a prisoner swap with Hamas, as efforts appeared to gather pace on an accord that could see a Gaza-held soldier exchanged for hundreds of Palestinians.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Eight soldiers died in a munitions blast Monday in central Russia, a defence ministry spokesman said, at the same arms depot where two died in a huge accidental weapons explosion 10 days earlier.

ROME (AFP) - A military C-130 Hercules transport plane crashed on take-off during a training flight near Pisa in northwest Italy Monday, killing all five people on board, the Italian air force told AFP.

BRASILIA (AFP) - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday began a controversial visit to Brazil, the key leg of a tour to sympathetic Latin American and African countries he sees backing Tehran's vision of "a new world order."

HEGANG, China (AFP) - Relatives of victims angrily demanded answers Monday as the death toll from China's worst mining disaster in two years climbed to 104 and hopes of finding more survivors faded.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President Barack Obama will meet with his war cabinet Monday for "possibly" the last time before deciding whether to dispatch tens of thousands more US troops to Afghanistan, an official said.

TANJUNG BALAI, Indonesia (AFP) - The captain of an Indonesian ferry which sank killing 29 people rejected claims of overcrowding Monday and blamed a freak storm for the disaster, as officials launched an investigation.

SANAA (AFP) - Shiite rebels in northern Yemen accused Saudi forces of launching a major cross-border ground and air attack on Monday, a day after an alleged failed incursion.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq's upcoming general election will be delayed, a top MP warned, because an amended electoral law agreed on Monday is likely to be vetoed for a second time by the country's Sunni vice president.

HEGANG, China (AFP) - The death toll from China's deadliest coal mine blast in two years has climbed to 104, local authorities said early Monday, according to state media.

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's envoy to the UN atomic watchdog said on Sunday that Tehran wants a guaranteed supply of fuel for a research reactor as a military chief warned that any attack on its nuclear sites would be crushed.

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli President Shimon Peres said on Sunday there has been "progress" in talks to free soldier Gilad Shalit, held captive by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip for the past three years.

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 country aims to recover from a political crisis and a deep recession.

JAKARTA (AFP) - Rescuers on Sunday desperately hunted for survivors in the waters off Indonesia's Sumatra island after a ferry sank in stormy seas, killing at least 29 people, officials said.

BELFAST (AFP) - A massive car bomb that failed to explode properly was designed to cause widespread destruction in Belfast, police said Sunday, underscoring the threat to Northern Ireland's fragile peace.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq on Sunday for the first time said that the bombers who killed more than 150 people in Baghdad on October 25 came from neighbouring Syria, but steered well clear of accusing Damascus of collusion.

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.

KHAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistani troops on Sunday repulsed an attack by militants on one of their posts in a lawless tribal region, killing 11 rebels, officials said.

MADRID (AFP) - A Spanish trawler captain released by Somali pirates said he is haunted by his failure to save a 12-year-old Ukrainian girl held captive for more than six months, a newspaper reported Sunday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President Barack Obama's signature drive to remake US health care was on track to clear a key Senate hurdle Saturday, as the last wavering Democrats agreed to vote to formally open debate on the bill.

HALIFAX, Canada (AFP) - Despite fierce public pressure to end the war in Afghanistan eight years on, politicians and experts on Saturday decried calls for setting an exit date they say would embolden the Taliban.

COCKERMOUTH, England (AFP) - Britain's flood-hit northwest braced Saturday for more devastation after river levels rose again and forecasters warned of more rain following unprecedented torrential deluges.

MANAGUA (AFP) - Thousands of pro- and anti-government protesters took to the streets of Nicaragua's capital, protesting and backing President Daniel Ortega's bid to remain in power.

ROME (AFP) - Two Pakistanis have been arrested in Italy on suspicion of having sent money to people implicated in the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, Italian media reported Saturday, citing anti-terror police.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The hunt began in earnest Saturday for a new Belgian prime minister after Herman Van Rompuy was chosen as the EU first president, with his predecessor Yves Leterme appearing in pole position.

BOGOTA (AFP) - A thousand people were evacuated and traffic was stopped after the Galeras volcano erupted in southern Colombia without causing casualties, officials said Saturday.

CARACAS (AFP) - Venezuelan police captured a leader of a Colombia-linked paramilitary force, the interior minister announced Saturday amid sky-high military tensions between the South American neighbors.

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI and the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams sought to ease tensions between the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches at "cordial" talks at the Vatican on Saturday.