FORT WORTH - A gunman shouting anti-religious curses and ordering his victims to „stay still“ pumped a hail of bullets into hymn- singing teenage worshipers in a Baptist church on Wednesday, killing seven people and himself.

MOSCOW - President Boris Yeltsin was quoted as saying on Thursday Russia was working on tightening its border with the breakaway region of Chechnya and that transport links with it should be cut.

ALGIERS - Algerians began voting on Thursday in a referendum on a peace plan President Abdelaziz Bouteflika hopes will end more than seven years of violence.

MOSCOW - President Boris Yeltsin has ordered Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to prevent allegations of Russian involvement in money-laundering via U.S. banks hurting the country‘s image.

BERLIN - Germany‘s opposition Christian Democrats said on Thursday they would not use their new found strength in the upper house of parliament to block legislation by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder‘s government.

VIENNA - A woman captured after a shoot-out with police in which her companion died has been named as Andrea Klump, a key member of the Red Army Faction that terrorised West Germany.

BAT YAM, Israel - Police fraud investigators questioned Israel‘s former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday on suspicion a removal man carried out private work for him and billed the government.

GAZA - Israeli authorities have agreed to allow the deputy head of a Damascus-based PLO faction opposed to Yasser Arafat‘s peace deals with Israel to return from exile.

JERUSALEM - Israel‘s army chief was quoted on Thursday as saying Prime Minister Ehud Barak‘s timetable for a permanent peace accord with the Palestinians appeared to be unrealistic.

HONG KONG - Hong Kong plunged into chaos on Thursday as typhoon York, the worst in 16 years, hit the territory, killing one person and injuring 115.

JAKARTA - East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao on Thursday promised there would be no revenge in his homeland, torn apart in a murderous rampage by pro-Jakarta militias.

TAIPEI - Taiwan on Thursday played down Washington‘s first open opposition to its quest for a United Nations seat, but analysts saw the U.S. move as a strong rebuff of Taipei‘s call for political parity with China.

KIGALI - The trial of a Roman Catholic bishop accused of genocide and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has been adjourned until next week.

ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast President Henri Konan Bedie has pardoned 388 militant loyalists of his chief political opponent who were arrested after clashes with police.

KINSHASA - Congolese President Laurent Kabila said on Wednesday talks with his armed and civilian opponents would start in a month‘s time and should be held in the capital Kinshasa.

QUITO, Ecuador - A volcano near the Ecuadorean capital, Quito, poured ash on the city of 1.2 million on Wednesday, and officials later issued a „yellow alert“ warning that a second volcano south of the city could erupt.

WASHINGTON - Mexico‘s former deputy attorney general, who faced trial in the United States on charges he laundered $9.9 million in suspected drug money, committed suicide on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - Vice President Al Gore and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton courted the Hispanic vote on Wednesday, calling for lower healthcare costs and a reduction in the Latino drop-out rate in schools.

REUTERS