JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak asked U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to delay a Middle East visit to give him time to iron out problems with the Palestinians.

KISANGANI, Congo - An uneasy calm returned to Kisangani on Sunday after rival rebel factions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo exchanged gunfire throughout the night as city residents cowered in their homes.

PORT STANLEY - The first Argentines allowed to freely visit the disputed Falkland Islands since the end of a 1982 war between Britain and Argentina touched down on the South Atlantic archipelago on Saturday.

MOSCOW - Prime Minister Stepashin praised Russian paratroops who took part in the dash for Kosovo‘s Pristina airport in June and handed some of them medals on Saturday.

BAGHDAD - Iraq‘s Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz blamed Iran on Sunday for creating difficulties that prevented normal ties between the old foes.

DOHA - Qatar‘s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani left Doha on Sunday for the Palestinian self-rule areas, the first Gulf Arab head of state to make such a trip.

JOHANNESBURG - South African President Thabo Mbeki will meet the presidents of Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania on Sunday in a fresh effort to end the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

LISBON - All 18 passengers and crew on a domestic flight in the West African Cape Verde islands were feared dead on Saturday after their plane crashed in bad weather.

JOHANNESBURG - Tito Mboweni took office as South Africa‘s first black central bank governor on Sunday with praise for his white Afrikaner predecessor and a promise to pursue sustainable economic growth.

DELHI - Kashmiri militants attacked an Indian army camp with rockets near the ceasefire line with Pakistan, killing one soldier and injuring six.

SEOUL - South Korea has given its labour unions permission to send a soccer team to North Korea this week for a first-ever friendly soccer match.

TOKYO - Prayers for peace will be said and silence will descend across Nagasaki on Monday as the world marks for the last time this millennium an event that helped define much of the 20th century.

LITTLE ROCK - President Clinton made his first campaign appearances with Vice President Al Gore Saturday, hoping to end lingering whispers of a rift between the president and the man who wants to succeed him.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Guyana‘s 78-year-old President Janet Jagan is expected to announce her resignation on Sunday due to poor health.

MANAGUA - Facing criticism for leaving his people to „the grace of God,“ Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman cut short his Miami engagement celebration to return home on Saturday as eruptions and tremors continued to rock the Cerro Negro volcano.

PRISTINA - NATO troops raided a house being used by Kosovo‘s self-styled public order minister and several aides, seizing weapons in a crackdown on criminal intimidation in the capital Pristina.

VRBAS, Serbia - Over 2,000 people at an opposition rally in this north Serbian stronghold of President Slobodan Milosevic‘s ruling party on Saturday heard calls for his resignation.

JERUSALEM - The military arm of the Islamic Hamas group claimed responsibility on Saturday for an attack on Jewish settlers in the West Bank town of Hebron earlier this week.