BEIJING - China said it opposed the use of force or sanctions against Yugoslavia over Kosovo and urged political dialogue to solve the crisis.

JERUSALEM - U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright began talks with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu on smoothing the way to a peace deal with the Palestinians at a Washington summit later this month.

KRASNOYARSK - Reserve general Alexander Lebed, a likely presidential contender and governor of a Siberian region, said he would call on President Boris Yeltsin to resign during a nationwide day of protest on Wednesday.

TOKYO - The Japanese government admitted what everyone else already knew: the nation is in the deepest and longest recession since the end of World War Two.

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations for the first time has proposed a timetable for the Security Council to determine what Iraq needs to do to get eight-year- old sanctions lifted on exports, such as oil.

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad‘s party was to meet to discuss a successor to deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose arrest and alleged beating in custody has drawn international criticism.

TEHRAN - Iranian forces massed on the border with Afghanistan will not pull back until Tehran‘s terms for peace with the Taleban are met, Iran‘s defence minister told a visiting U.N. special envoy.

MOSCOW - Russia‘s economic supremo said the International Monetary Fund shared the blame for a major financial crisis in the world‘s second nuclear power and demanded the IMF help solve the problem.

SAO PAULO - Brazil‘s President Fernando Henrique Cardoso came under intense pressure for harsh economic reform as the latest voter tallies appeared to put him on a firmer path toward re-election.

MARJAYOUN, Lebanon - Pro-Iranian Hizbollah guerrillas detonated roadside bombs near an Israeli column in south Lebanon on Monday, killing two Israeli soldiers and wounding three others.

KALIMA, Congo - Rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo said they had begun shelling the strategic government-held town of Kindu in the east of the country.

LUANDA - Fighting between Angolan government troops and former UNITA rebels has tripled the number of civilians forced to flee their homes since June to 257,000, according to the United Nations.

FRANKFURT - The world‘s largest book fair opened with an impassioned plea for human rights — but a Turkish writer wasň barred from flying in to collect a special Freedom to Publish award.

LONDON - Oil giant Shell, together with South African state power utility Eskom, will invest $30 million on solar power development in rural South Africa over the next three years. The project, a 50-50 joint venture between Shellň International Renewables Ltd and Eskom, will offer stand-alone solar power units to as many as 50,000 homes currently without electricity at a cost of around $8 a month,

ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopian President Negaso Gidada said that the main task facing the government was the liberation of territory occupied by neighbouring Eritrea — by force if peace efforts failed.

NAIROBI - Kenyan teachers and students clashed with police in various parts of the country on Monday as tens of thousands of teachers began an indefinite strike over pay,