BRUSSELS - Voters dealt a blow to Europe‘s mainly left-leaning governments on Monday, sweeping the centre-right into dominance in elections for the new 626-member European Parliament.
NEW DELHI - Indian warplanes mounted fresh attacks on Monday on what Delhi says are Pakistani-backed guerrillas dug into mountain ridges near the ceasefire line in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.
JAKARTA - Indonesia‘s top opposition party, ahead in the vote-count from last week‘s election, said on Monday it had been approached by parties eager to join it in the nation‘s first democratic government in four decades.
SEOUL - Australian Phil Coles escaped expulsion from the International Olympic Committee yet again on Monday, but only after he said he would play no further part in the organisation of next year‘s Sydney Olympics.
BANGKOK - Doctors have told Thailand‘s King Bhumibol Adulyadej not to attend royal functions for the time being due to back problems.
BRUSSELS - Belgium‘s dioxin scare will come under the scrutiny of European Union farm ministers, who meet in Luxembourg on Monday amid calls for tighter food safety rules and a ban on feeding meat and bone meal to animals. Belgian newspapers on Monday trumpeted the humiliating election defeat of the centre-left government, calling it retribution for the botched handling of the country‘s latest political scandal.
LONDON - Opponents of the European single currency dealt a humiliating body blow to British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday and his hopes of persuading voters to swap the pound sterling for the euro.
DHAKA - Transportation between the Bangladesh capital Dhaka and Chittagong port ground to a halt on Monday as industrial workers barricaded train lines and highways to press for higher wages and other financial demands.
SEOUL - A naval standoff between the two Koreas entered its eighth day on Monday when North Korean patrol ships again crossed into southern waters.
MEXICO CITY - Former President Carlos Salinas appeared to have delayed his departure from Mexico on Sunday after his first visit home since fleeing in disgrace in 1995.
SAO PAULO - More than 80 inmates, including 15 juvenile offenders, broke out of three separate Sao Paulo prisons over the weekend, just a week after 345 men made the biggest jail break in Brazilian history.
DUBAI - Saudi Arabia this week is expected to reshuffle its cabinet for only the second time in nearly 25 years although diplomats and analysts expect no changes in key ministries.
JERUSALEM - Israel‘s army said on Sunday it would free a jailed former air force general who has served only two-thirds of a 13-year sentence for a multi-million-dollar arms purchasing scandal involving U.S. contracts.
CAPE TOWN - South African President Nelson Mandela welcomed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Sunday as his last official guest and said the ending of the Lockerbie impasse had justified close ties with Tripoli.
LOWICZ, Poland - Pope John Paul will extend his visit to Poland by one day and fly directly from his native land to Armenia on Friday for a one-day visit to see the country‘s ailing Patriarch, the Vatican said on Monday.
