ROME - Parties making up Italy‘s centre-left majority say they back NATO operations in Yugoslavia but call on government to work with allies to halt bombing and resume talks. Prime Minister Massimo D‘Alema due to address lower house 1300.
BERLIN - European Union leaders end marathon talks with compromise package on far-reaching budget reforms aimed at stabilising EU spending on farm and regional aid programmes that swallow most of its $94 billion annual budget.
BELFAST - With week to go until deadline for creation of Northern Ireland home-rule cabinet, British province‘s politicians press ahead with talks to try to break impasse over guerrilla disarmament.
CAPE TOWN - President Nelson Mandela, who turned South Africa from racism toward reconciliation, says farewell to first all-race parliament which dismantled apartheid.
GENEVA - Chinese President Jiang Zemin expected to appeal for negotiations on nuclear disarmament at United Nations arms control body and criticise mooted U.S. missile defence system as leading to arms race in outer space.
JERUSALEM - Israel says European Union reduces its chance of ever becoming an honest broker in Middle East peacemaking by calling for early establishment of Palestinian state.
JABAL ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia - Moslem pilgrims, chanting "Here I am God, Here I am" climb Mount Arafat as annual haj reaches climax.
RABAT - New wave of killings gripping Algeria as it prepares for April 15 presidential elections. Leading candidates call for for army to stay out of politics.
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia considering gassing pigs en masse because troops cannot shoot them fast enough to arrest deadly virus which sparked major health crisis.
LONDON - European leading share markets rise after Wall Street snaps four-day run of losses with impressive rally and show few signs of being ruffled by NATO air attacks in Yugoslavia.
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Indonesian President B. J. Habibie flies to rebellious province of Aceh in a rare trip outside Jakarta. Around 20 protesters demanding a vote on self-rule are injured in clashes with security forces in the staunchly Moslem province.
PHNOM PENH - Hopes for significant international role in any trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders dim after Cambodian government rules out foreign judges and prosecutors.
LONDON - Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher met with former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in an event that was televised live.
