REUTERS, Mexico - Heavily armed men killed at least 16 people, all members of a ranchers' association, in two different massacres in southern Mexico over the weekend, Mexican media said on Sunday.

Some 40 men riding in luxury vehicles and wearing uniforms of an elite police squad shot nine people dead in the town of Petatlan in the state of Guerrero on Sunday, El Universal newspaper reported.

REUTERS, Baghdad - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered the formation of a committee to compile evidence of Iranian "interference" in Iraq that will then be presented to Tehran, the government spokesman said on Sunday.

Spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh was speaking a day after a delegation from Iraq's ruling Shi'ite alliance returned from Tehran after showing Iranian officials evidence of the Islamic Republic's backing of Shi'ite militias in Iraq. Dabbagh said Iranian officials who met that delegation had denied any meddling in Iraq.

REUTERS, Madrid - The world can reach a significant new climate change pact by the end of 2009 if current talks keep up their momentum, the head of the United Nations climate panel said on Sunday.

The United Nations began negotiations on a sweeping new pact in March after governments agreed last year to work out a treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol by the end of next year.

REUTERS, Santa Cruz, Bolivia - Bolivia's richest region of Santa Cruz voted overwhelmingly for autonomy on Sunday in a referendum widely seen as a rejection of President Evo Morales' leftist reforms, exit polls showed.

The ballot was the first of four referendums on greater autonomy from central government being planned by eastern provinces, raising tensions between Morales' supporters and the conservative opposition that is concentrated in the east.

REUTERS, Brasilia - A boat carrying around 110 people, more than twice its capacity, sank on Sunday at dawn on a major river in the Amazon rain forest, rescue workers said.

The boat sank before 6 a.m. on the Solimoes River, about 50 miles from Manaus, a spokesman for the fire department in the town of Manacapuru told Reuters.

REUTERS, Beijing - A province in eastern China recorded 622 new cases of the intestinal virus known as enterovirus 71 on Saturday alone, the official Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.

The figure brought to 5,151 the number of people infected by the virus in Anhui province, Xinhua quoted the provincial health administration as saying. Anhui's worst hit city was Fuyang with 362 cases.

Australia in England 2009

Cricinfo.com

The ECB have confirmed Australia's full itinerary for their tour of England next year, which includes seven one-dayers in addition to the usual five Tests. Australia will spend four months in England with the Ashes set to follow the ICC World Twenty20, which takes place in June.

AFP, MADRID - Finance ministers of 13 Asian nations agreed here on Sunday to set up a foreign exchange pool of at least 80 billion dollars (52 billion euros) to be used in the event of another regional financial crisis.

China, Japan and South Korea will provide 80 percent of the funds, with the rest coming from the 10 members of ASEAN, they said in a joint statement issued

REUTERS, FRANKFURT - Shares in Yahoo Inc fell almost 20 percent in Frankfurt on Monday after Microsoft Corp walked away from its bid for the Internet company.

Yahoo shares were down 19.7 percent in Frankfurt at 14.55 euros ($22.50) at 0820 GMT, while Microsoft rose 3.7 percent. Microsoft on Saturday sweetened its initial $31 per share offer for Yahoo to $33, but then withdrew from the talks when Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang dug in for a price of $37. Yahoo shares closed at $28.67 on Friday.

REUTERS, NEW YORK - Yahoo Inc likely faces a flood of shareholder lawsuits for rejecting a $47.5 billion takeover bid from Microsoft Corp, even if investors find holding the company responsible to be an uphill battle.

Microsoft pulled its sweetened $33-per-share offer on Saturday because the Internet company was holding out for $37 per share, even though Microsoft's price was more than 70 percent above where Yahoo shares were trading before the takeover battle started more than three months ago.

REUTERS, Omaha, Nebraska - Warren Buffett on Sunday said he does not expect financial markets to panic as write-downs and losses for bad debts mount in the financial services industry, but said those losses were not over "by a long shot."

The world's richest person, who runs Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said at a press conference the Federal Reserve brought markets back from a precipice in March in helping broker JPMorgan Chase & Co's purchase of Bear Stearns Cos, which was on the brink of bankruptcy.

REUTERS, Beijing - About 200 people staged a rare protest in a city in southwest China against construction of a major petrochemical complex, saying it would lead to serious air and water pollution, local media reported on Monday.

Protesters in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, marched peacefully for about two hours on Sunday to demonstrate against plans for an ethylene plant and an oil refinery on the city's northern outskirts, the Beijing News said.

REUTERS, New York/San Francisco - Yahoo Inc faced growing pressure on Sunday to find an alternative strategy to Microsoft Corp's $47.5 billion takeover offer after the software maker walked away over a disagreement on price.

Yahoo shares could fall by more than 30 percent on Monday over the breakdown of talks, but that drop could be softened if Wall Street believes Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang has another strategy up his sleeve, analysts said.

REUTERS, SINGAPORE - Asian stocks rose to their strongest in nearly four months on Monday and the dollar held on to most of last week's gains after jobs data suggested the US economic slowdown may not be as severe as investors had expected.

REUTERS, SHANGHAI - With a possible US recession looming, Colonel Sanders is turning to China to fill the breach, offering a menu of fried dough and preserved egg porridge alongside the chicken that turned KFC into an American icon.

Beset by falling sales at home, Yum! Brands Inc, owner of the Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut brands, is mounting an expansion drive in China that could make the country its biggest source of profit within a decade.

REUTERS, MOSCOW - The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria may loan cash to developing countries when they grow too wealthy to qualify for grants, the fund's director, Michel Kazatchkine, said on Sunday.

Including loans in its remit would allow The Global Fund - which has raised about $10.8 billion for donations since 2002 - to extend help to governments and civic groups in heavily infected but increasingly wealthy countries.

REUTERS, SINGAPORE - Gold rebounded on Monday as bargain hunters snapped up bullion after a fall to a four-month low last week, but trading was thin in the absence of Japanese speculators.

Gold rose to $861.10/864.10 an ounce from $855.80/857.00 an ounce late in New York on Friday, when it tumbled to $845 an ounce, its lowest since Jan 2, after the dollar jumped on better-than-expected US jobs data.

Bdnews24.com

The Sadarghat terminal remained closed for more than nine hours Sunday after angry people set fire to two launches on the Buriganga

Bdnews24.com

The Awami League Monday went on a symbolic hunger strike to pile pressure on the government to release party chief Sheikh Hasina from prison.

Acting AL president Zillur Rahman said people might "go out of control" if Hasina was not freed. "It is people who will decide the next course of action after our regular programmes end," Zillur said to leaders and workers who were on the hunger strike in Dhanmondi in Dhaka.

Niko case

The Anticorruption Commission Monday submitted a chargesheet against former prime minister Khaleda Zia ad 10 others in a Niko scam case, reports bdnews24.com

ACC assistant director SM Sahidur Rahman turned in the chargesheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court for Dhaka. Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Md Golam Rabbani received the chargesteet.