DURBAN, South Africa - The South African Air Force sent two helicopters to rescue 33 crew from a sinking freighter off the east coast.
South African police have arrested a white man for the murder of two Swedish tourists in the country's eastern KwaZulu-Natal province in February.
WASHINGTON - A reporter whose bombshell 1993 magazine article sowed the seeds of the White House sex scandal has apologised to President Bill Clinton, saying the president's right-wing foes were behind the story. The development was another potential blow to independent counsel Kenneth Starr's probe of Clinton.
BEIJING - China's parliament voted overwhelmingly to approve a plan for a radical trimming of the government. total of 2,814 delegates voted for the measure to axe 15 ministry-level bodies and millions of civil service jobs.
LAGOS - Nigeria's umbrella opposition coalition called for peaceful demonstrations against military ruler General Sani Abacha.
KINSHASA - Several hundred Banyamulenge Tutsi soldiers, who formed the backbone of the alliance that brought Laurent Kabila to power in Democratic Congo, have ended a two-week mutiny in the east.
JAKARTA - President Suharto was re-elected for a seventh five-year term as Indonesia said it would send a top-level team to Washington for talks with the International Monetary Fund on its economic crisis. Suharto formally said that Research and Technology Minister Jusuf Habibie was his choice for vice-president.
NEW DELHI - India's leading parties grappled with internal divisions as the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) searched for enough support in parliament to forge a coalition government. The BJP is looking for 272 supporters among 543 elected members to give it a majority in the fragmented lower house.
PARIS - Rebels have killed 19 civilians, and a military offensive in western Algeria has killed six rebels.
GENEVA - Algerian President Liamine Zeroual, 56, arrived in Geneva for medical checks.
DUSHANBE - The deputy leader of Tajikistan's Islamic opposition accepted the post of first deputy prime minister, marking a step towards lasting peace and stability after a civil war in the former Soviet republic.
DUBAI - Saudi Arabia's heir apparent, Crown Prince Abdullah, assumed the day-to-day running of the world's largest oil producer and exporter long before King Fahd's gall bladder infection. The king, 76 this year, was admitted to hospital in Riyadh on Monday for medical tests following the infection, the royal court announced.
SEOUL - South Korea's main opposition party asked the Constitutional Court to suspend President Kim Dae--jung's controversial appointment for acting prime minister.
JERUSALEM - Senior Palestinian and Israeli negotiators failed again in talks to narrow the gap on outstanding issues of an Israel-PLO interim peace deal.
NICOSIA - The parliament of the self-declared Turkish Cypriot state voted not to take part in negotiations in Brussels later this month on Cypriot membership of the European Union.
MUTSU-OGAWARA, Japan - A British ship carrying plutonium and hazardous nuclear waste from France to Japan, was forced to lay at anchor off this northern port after the region's governor denied it entry to harbour.
