World - AFP

ARLINGTON, Virginia (AFP) - Republicans Sunday pushed back against charges that John McCain's campaign had been sowing "hatred" against Barack Obama, as they struggled to put their White House bid back on track.

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai threatened Sunday to pull out of a power-sharing deal with Robert Mugabe after the president handed key ministries to his own party.

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistani helicopter gunships on Sunday bombed a meeting of Islamic militants linked to Al-Qaeda near the border with Afghanistan, leaving 35 fighters dead, security officials said.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia test-fired three long-range missiles on Sunday and pronounced its nuclear deterrent strong in a show of force that experts said had not been seen since the days of the Cold War.

KABUL (AFP) - The commander of international forces in Afghanistan, US General David McKiernan, said Sunday that the West had not lost the war against Islamic insurgents but more troops and equipment were needed to tackle the rebels.

VIENNA (AFP) - Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider was driving at more than twice the speed limit after going to a nightclub when he crashed and died this weekend, court officials said Sunday.

TEHRAN (AFP) - Mehdi Karroubi announced on Sunday that he will run in next year's presidential race, becoming the first Iranian politician to declare his candidacy to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - About 100 militants were killed in Afghanistan's Helmand province, half in air strikes that thwarted a major attack on a key town overnight, Afghan and British forces said Sunday.

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AFP) - Lithuania's opposition Conservatives took the lead in a general election Sunday, beating the party of impeached president Rolandas Paksas and the ruling Social Democrats, exit polls showed.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Saturday struck North Korea from a terror blacklist after saying Pyongyang agreed to steps to verify its nuclear disarmament and pledged to resume disabling its atomic plants.

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 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.

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.

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.