BRASILIA - Brazil jacked up a key interest rate on Monday, saying it expected no miracles after floating its once-proud currency and only an end to profligate public spending could now ensure economic stability.

WASHINGTON - The White House on Monday tried to quell momentum in the U.S. Senate toward calling witnesses in President Bill Clinton`s impeachment trial as the president stuck studiously to preparing for his State of the Union speech.

MOSCOW - Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov`s efforts to tame Russia`s raging economic crisis face their next big test on Tuesday when parliament resumes its scrutiny of his government`s draft budget for 1999.

MANILA - The Philippines` Supreme Court on Tuesday scrapped its own restraining order on the execution of a convicted child rapist and said a date for his death by lethal injection would be set by the trial court.

LONDON - Former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet is not immune from prosecution for all crimes such as torture because he ordered some before he became head of state.

UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Security Council members on Monday strongly condemned the massacre of 45 ethnic Albanians in Yugoslavia`s Kosovo province and demanded an immediate investigation.

ATLANTA - Northern Ireland nationalist leader and Nobel laureate John Hume accepted the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Prize on Monday, saying the example set by the slain civil rights leader laid the groundwork for peace in Northern Ireland.

LONDON - The artistic director of Russia`s cash-strapped Bolshoi Theatre said he was confident enough funds could be raised to save one of the world`s most famous ballet and opera companies.

TOKYO - Support for the government of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, boosted by the formation of a coalition with the small Liberal Party, has risen to its highest level in five months.

CANBERRA - Australia said on Tuesday it was considering releasing 25-year-old official documents to counter criticism and long-held suspicions over its policy on East Timor.

JAKARTA - At least eight people were killed and dozens injured in clashes in Indonesia in the run-up to this week`s Moslem end of fasting celebrations.

MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo on Monday defended his government`s record after a verbal feud over the weekend with a controversial Brazilian governor.

VANCOUVER - British Columbia said on Monday it would appeal a court ruling that residents have a constitutional right to possess child pornography as long as it is not for distribution.

RIYADH - Moslems around the world on Monday celebrated Eid

al-Fitr, a time of joy and feasting after the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

LONDON - Britain said on Monday that the latest Britons to be kidnapped in Yemen were an elderly pair of aid workers employed by a Dutch company.

FREETOWN - Rebels in Sierra Leone insist they will abide by a unilateral ceasefire but verification is impossible and pro-government forces are not ready to stop fighting yet.

WINDHOEK - Leaders of African countries involved in the civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have agreed to sign a ceasefire to end five months of fighting.

HARARE - Former Zimbabwean President Canaan Banana was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in jail with hard labour for sodomy and indecent assault, but with nine years suspended.

edited by

zuzana vilikovská