BEIJING - The United States and China clashed over human rights on Monday as U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright kicked off talks with Chinese leaders with a blunt exchange of words with Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan.

TEHRAN - Iranian reformists looked headed for a big victory in the high-profile race for Tehran‘s city council, with early results on Monday showing supporters of moderate President Mohammad Khatami dominating the contest.

PRISTINA, Serbia - One Serbian policeman was killed and four were wounded in southern Kosovo on Sunday as government forces battled with ethnic Albanian guerrillas on the first anniversary of the war here.

BAGHDAD - A senior Iraqi official said U.S. planes bombed a pipeline used by Iraq to export oil via Turkey on Sunday, cutting off the flow of oil.

MOSCOW - Russian President Boris Yeltsin may need up to a week longer in hospital to complete treatment for a stomach ulcer.

INNSBRUCK, Austria - Austria mourned the 38 victims of its worst avalanche disaster in nearly half a century on Sunday as the atrocious weather that killed them slowly improved.

LONDON - Israel wants Lebanon to assert its sovereignty and remove Hizbollah guerrillas from the south of the country.

BAGHDAD - Iraq said three people were killed on Sunday when Western warplanes attacked civilian targets and villages in the north of the country.

KINSHASA - President Laurent Kabila and his southern African allies will meet in Kinshasa on Monday to discuss the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

WASHINGTON - The United States condemned Sunday‘s spate of bombings in the African country of Zambia as "egregious acts of senseless violence" and urged all parties to show restraint to avoid exacerbating the situation.

ADDIS ABABA - The Ethiopian government on Sunday declared "total victory" in its border war with Eritrea after recapturing the contested Badme region, but Eritrea said fighting continued.

SYDNEY - Indonesian President B. J. Habibie wants East Timor to decide on the question of autonomy before national elections on June 7, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia‘s former police chief had to be pulled away from sacked finance minister Anwar Ibrahim after he assaulted the former cabinet minister in detention.

AMBON, Indonesia - Indonesian police shot and killed nine people on Monday on the strife-torn island of Ambon, firing without warning on Moslems leaving a mosque after early prayers.

HAVANA - At least two dozen Cuban dissidents were being held on Sunday in a round-up of activists apparently intended to prevent trouble at the trial this week of four prominent government opponents.

SACRAMENTO - Conservative foes of abortion maintained their grip over the leadership of the California Republican Party on Sunday despite a hard-fought attempt by moderates to win the party‘s top jobs.

BUENOS AIRES - This year was supposed to mark the end of the Carlos Menem era in Argentina, but the 68-year-old president seems to have no intention of letting that happen.