WASHINGTON - The United States described the detention of leading Chinese dissident Xu Wenli as "a serious step in the wrong direction" and urged the Chinese authorities to free him at once. In BEIJING, China`s Foreign Ministry said Xu was suspected of endangering national security and called on foreign countries not to interfere in domestic Chinese affairs.

WASHINGTON - Exon Corp.`s record $76.6 billion bid to buy Mobil Corp. to create the world`s biggest oil company now faces the scrutiny of federal regulators.

TOKYO - North Korea bitterly accused the United States of taking a hardline stance over Pyongyang`s suspected nuclear site and said Washington was pushing the situation to the "brink of war".

ANKARA - Turkish President Suleyman Demirel has summoned leftist leader Bulent Ecevit for talks amid speculation that he could be given the mandate to form a new government.

MOSCOW - Russia will push for more state control of its economy and more social welfare, even if it means scaring the International Monetary Fund.

BEIRUT - Lebanese President Emile Lahoud has chosen veteran politician and economist Selim al-Hoss to become the country`s new prime minister.

JAKARTA - Thousands of Indonesian students staged pro-democracy protests as President B.J. Habibie pleaded with them to get off the streets and push for reforms through the political system.

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the Palestinians of breaching their interim peace deal and urged U.S. President Bill Clinton to step in and stop them.

PRISTINA, Serbia - Ethnic Albanians are plucking up the courage to creep back to devastated homes across Kosovo but fear of Serb police means few are confident they will stay.

BOGOTA - Marxist rebels stormed two towns and attacked key highways in western Colombia, killing at least 11 people and wounding 30

others, including civilians and security force members.

CANBERRA - Police discovered more than 20 letter bombs in a Canberra mail sorting office, most of them addressed to tax collectors in the Australian capital.

MADRID - Spanish Foreign Minister Abel Matutes told his Chilean counterpart his government could not stop the extradition process of ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet who is wanted in Spain on genocide charges. In London, Pinochet moved into a luxurious private house southwest of London where he must wait for a British decision on whether he should be extradited to Spain.

JERUSALEM - The self-styled champion of Israel`s working class, David Levy, said he was ready to rejoin Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu`s government so long as he was given the job of finance minister.

BEIRUT - Lebanese President Emile Lahoud has chosen veteran politician and economist Selim al-Hoss to become the country`s new prime minister.

KISANGANI, Congo - The political leader of rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo said he would fly to Uganda to meet President Yoweri Museveni and discuss a peace deal supposed to apply to his forces.

KIGALI - Seventy-six genocide suspects have been released from prison in Rwanda, the first of 10,000 suspects the government plans to free for lack of evidence or incomplete files.

BAGHDAD - Iraq will resume its oil exports under an oil-for-food deal with the United Nations this weekend.

ALGIERS - Algerian security forces said Moslem rebels had slashed the throats of 12 people at a village west of Algiers overnight.