CAPE TOWN - South African President Nelson Mandela, giving his final state of the nation address to parliament, said on Friday the country`s second all-race poll should be held in mid- to late May.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate refused on Thursday to call Monica Lewinsky to testify in person in President Clinton`s trial, clearing the way for a quick vote next week on the impeachment charges against him.

UNITED NATIONS - Chief U.N. arms inspector Richard Butler said on Thursday he would leave his post when his contract expired in June but stressed that his tenure was far less important than completing Iraq`s disarmament.

MANILA - The Philippines executed its first criminal in more than two decades on Friday, ending months of agonised debate in the mainly Roman Catholic nation on capital punishment.

GROZNY, Russia - The president of the rebel Russian region of Chechnya, Aslan Maskhadov, has dismissed his vice-president by abolishing the post.

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is losing support and will be ousted in Israel`s upcoming general election, according to an opinion poll published on Friday.

JAKARTA - Indonesia`s armed forces support East Timorese rebel calls for a ceasefire in the territory as well as the disarming of rival militias to stem a rising tide of violence.

BEIJING - China has executed two Moslem separatists for masterminding a spate of killings and riots that rocked the restive border province of Xinjiang in 1997.

BOGOTA - The reconstruction of Colombia`s earthquake-devastated central coffee-growing region could cost as much as $1.5 billion.

JOHANNESBURG - Canada`s top ranking diplomat to South Africa has been attacked by an unknown assailant who tricked his way into the envoy`s Cape Town hotel room.

DAKAR - West African troops landed in Guinea-Bissau`s capital on Thursday to police a ceasefire in the West African country`s civil war.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - A team from the International Monetary Fund worked to flesh out a revised framework for Brazil`s economic policy on Friday, trying to stem the currency crisis gripping Latin America`s biggest economy.

CAMP LEJEUNE - A military judge on Thursday convened the politically charged court-martial of a Marine pilot facing up to life in prison in the deaths of 20 people in last year`s Italian cable car disaster.

LONDON - Britain`s highest court on Thursday ended its rehearing of the question of whether former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet has immunity from prosecution, but did not say when it would deliver a verdict.

NEW YORK - Deutsche Bank AG, Germany`s biggest bank, said on Thursday that it helped finance construction of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz - a surprise revelation that came in the middle of its bid to buy America`s eighth biggest bank.

MEXICO CITY - Mexico`s giant Popocatepetl volcano rumbled and belched gases and ash early on Thursday, prompting authorities to warn area residents to be on heightened alert and stay away from its snow-capped crater.

SYDNEY - Australia`s xenophobic One Nation party faced a mutiny on Friday with its elected parliamentarians threatening to quit if founder Pauline Hanson did not stand down and face a leadership vote.