BEIJING - China told Taiwan on Wednesday peaceful reunification would be impossible if the island changed its constitution to reflect its new policy of "state to state" relations.

THATTRI, India - India has tightened security in Jammu and Kashmir state to deal with any surge in militancy following the conflict with Pakistan.

BEIJING - The Chinese central provinces of Hubei, Anhui and Hunan have declared flood alerts along the Yangtze after the country‘s longest river rose above danger levels.

ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said on Wednesday that a top Kurdish rebel had been arrested and brought to Turkey from Europe.

TUNCELI, Turkey - Separatist Kurdish guerrillas have opened fire on an open-air cafe in eastern Turkey, killing one person and wounding seven.

JERUSALEM - Israel rejected an Iranian proposal to strike a deal over the release of 13 Iranian Jews detained by Tehran on charges of spying for the Jewish state.

CHERBOURG, France - The armed British cargo ship Pacific Teal docked in France on Wednesday morning to pick up a controversial nuclear fuel shipment as authorities kept a close eye on environmental activists.

NEW YORK - Austria followed through in March on a pledge to donate $8 million to an international fund that helps Holocaust victims, but two months later Vienna asked for $2 million of that amount to be returned.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen on Tuesday said Serbia has no future with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in power and the United States backs a change in leadership.

LAGOS - New generals have been appointed to head Nigeria‘s military commands, including the ECOMOG West African peacekeeping force based in Sierra Leone.

SEOUL - Military generals from North Korea and the U.S.-led United Nations Command (UNC) on Wednesday again failed to agree on how to avoid another clash on the sea border dividing the two Koreas.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan reacted coolly on Wednesday to India‘s offer of peace talks, saying it needed real dialogue and mediation to solve the Kashmir dispute which brought the arch-rivals to the brink of war.

TOKYO - North Korea vowed on Wednesday not to let international pressure influence its decision on whether to test-fire a new missile, while Japan said it would do everything possible to deter such action.

WASHINGTON - A transatlantic battle over hormone-treated beef escalated on Tuesday with the United States blasting as "intemperate and insulting" comments by the French that America has the "worst food in the world."

LONDON - Britain and Ireland on Tuesday handed a summer-long review of Northern Ireland‘s stalled peace process over to former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, saying they were optimistic about rescuing it.

JAKARTA - Indonesia‘s third-largest political party said on Wednesday it still backed opposition figurehead Megawati Sukarnoputri for president, despite reports its founder could be nominated as a compromise candidate.

BOSTON - Cuba would welcome the chance to buy food from U.S. farmers if the 37-year-old trade embargo were ended.

TEHRAN - Iran‘s biggest student group on Tuesday blamed recent unrest on the government‘s failure to deliver on its reform promises and cast doubts on official assertions that the troubles were the product of foreign hands.