REUTERS, WASHINGTON- The Bush administration has proposed shifting $226.5 million in US counterterrorism aid to Pakistan to upgrade Pakistani F-16 fighters, US officials said on Thursday.

AFP, MANILA - A Qantas Boeing 747 flying to Melbourne made an emergency landing in Manila on Friday after a dramatic mid-air rupture that punched a "gaping hole" in its fuselage, officials and passengers said.

AFP, BEIJING - Yao Ming and many of China's other top athletes pledged "glory to the motherland" on Friday as the nation's biggest-ever Olympic team was unveiled for the Beijing Games.

Serbia's initial response to the arrest and revelations about the secret life of Radovan Karadzic was profound shock. His second life as Dragan Dabic quickly drowned out any more profound coverage of the crimes he is alleged to have committed.

Roving Correspondent

Woeser has been waiting 1,151 days for a passport. As one of Tibet's most famous poets, she has never shied away from voicing her criticism of the Chinese government even though she is resident in Beijing.

Now she is taking her protest one step further and is suing the authorities to get the document.

REUTERS, NEW YORK- Two forms of oxygen therapy may help manage two types of debilitating headache pain, a new research review suggests.

AFP, NICOSIA  - Rival Cypriot leaders on Friday set September 3 as the date when they will begin direct negotiations on ending the island's 34-year-old division.

At least 42 passengers have drowned when a boat struck a rock and sank in the Ubangi river in the Democratic Republic of Congo, government officials say, reports internet source.

AFP, WASHINGTON - Explosions of magnetic energy between Earth and the moon are behind the sparkles and wavy glows of the Northern Lights that color the night sky, NASA has said.

AFP, TOKYO - Worries about the health of Japan's economy mounted Friday as inflation hit a new decade high on soaring commodity costs, casting a pall over the outlook for consumer spending.

BBC

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is obstructing efforts to tackle his country's drugs problem, a former US counter-narcotics official has said.

Ershad declares

Staff Correspondent

Jatiya Party chief HM Ershad declared on Friday that his party was still with the AL-led 'grand alliance', which had never been dissolved.

Our Correspondent

Two passengers were killed and 20 others injured when two local trains collided head on at Laksham junction in Comilla Friday, a rail official said.

Political leaders have voiced a mixed reaction to the move to amend the Representation of the People Order 1972 instead of scrapping it, reports bdnews24.com

Bdnews24.com

Around 70,000 people die of tuberculosis each year, or one person every ten minutes, the National Anti-Tuberculosis Association of Bangladesh (NATAB) said Friday.

Transmission of news programmes by private TV channel Baishakhi resumed from Friday morning as striking workers returned to the station on assurances of payment of due salaries, a channel staffer said, reports bdnews24.com.

REUTERS, WASHINGTON- U.S. President George W. Bush and India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday agreed to press ahead with efforts to cement a civilian nuclear deal, the White House said.

Little progress so far

Desk Report

Marathon trade talks limped into another day on Friday but with little progress so far on the tortuous negotiations ministers said it would soon be time to decide whether a deal was at all possible.

AP, LONDON  -- The U.S. dollar was lower Friday against most other major currencies in European trading. Gold prices rose.

Brazilian may yet complete protracted move to Chelsea

Sky Sports

Chelsea have confirmed that their pursuit of Robinho remains a work in progress.