AFP - Afghanistan's parliament has started naming stay-away lawmakers, with a brother of President Hamid Karzai first on the list, in a bid to stop no-shows hobbling its work, an official said Sunday.

AFP - Zimbabwe's ruling party on Sunday scoffed at the return of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai after his more than six-week absence as a non-event.

AFP - Jean-Pierre Bemba, formerly vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was in custody in Belgium Sunday after being arrested on a war crimes warrant from the International Criminal Court.

AP - European and developing countries urged the United States and Japan on Sunday to commit to deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 — a step they say is needed to defuse a coming ecological disaster caused by global warming.

AP - The U.S. ambassador to Iraq said Saturday that al-Qaida's network in the country has never been closer to defeat, and he praised Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for his moves to rein in Shiite and Sunni militant groups.

AP - Colombia's Defense Ministry said Saturday it believes the legendary leader of Latin America's largest guerrilla army is dead and President Alvaro Uribe announced he is willing to offer rebels who free hostages "conditional liberty" and passage abroad.

AP - Forecasts of rain added to worries Sunday about relief efforts to house millions of people left homeless by China's massive earthquake nearly two weeks ago.

AP - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday he was hopeful "a turning point" had been reached in Myanmar's cyclone crisis as an international conference convened to pledge funds for some 2.4 million survivors.

AFP - The Red Cross in South Africa said Saturday it was caring for 25,000 displaced people following nearly two weeks of anti-immigrant violence amid emerging evidence of a humanitarian crisis.

AP - Lawmakers loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr accused the Iraqi government of trying to crush the movement and warned Saturday of "black clouds" on the horizon for truces that have eased fighting between al-Sadr's militia and security forces.

AFP - Robert Karlsson of Sweden was in pole position at the BMW PGA Championships after overnight leader Paul McGinley's form dramatically deserted him on the third round on Saturday.

AP - Hezbollah fighters have pulled back since seizing parts of Lebanon's capital, but their brazen display has made one thing clear: A private army blamed for terrorist attacks on Western interests and dedicated to the destruction of Israel will be a fixture in this weakened country for a long time.