AP - Rebuilding China's devastated earthquake zone will be a long and arduous process, the government warned Wednesday in a signal to millions of survivors living in tents that there will be no quick return to normalcy from their upturned lives.

AP - Nepal's lawmakers abolished the monarchy and declared the country a republic Wednesday, ending 239 years of royal rule in the Himalayan nation.

AP - Israel's powerful defense minister on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to step down amid a burgeoning corruption scandal and threatened to bring down the government if the Israeli leader does not comply.

AFP - Pope Benedict XVI will meet Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu leaders during his visit to Australia in July, organisers said Wednesday.

AP - The leader of Taiwan's new ruling party met Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday in a symbolic closing of the ranks between the rivals.

AFP - Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir on Wednesday demanded international action against Chad as tensions between the two countries flared over the Darfur crisis.

AP - A prominent Sunni politician says the largest Sunni bloc in Iraq's parliament has suspended talks with the Shiite-led government to end its boycott and rejoin the Cabinet.

AFP - A verdict was expected Wednesday in the trial of a French serial killer for the rape and murder of seven girls and young women, and his wife, accused of helping lure his victims.

AP - YANGON, Myanmar — Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi began a sixth year under detention Wednesday as foreign donors said aid would continue to flow into the military ruled nation to save cyclone victims.

AP - Nearly 160,000 people have been evacuated downstream from an unstable earthquake-created dam that is threatening to collapse, and troops rushed to carve a trench to drain the water before it floods the valley.

AP - The Canadian foreign minister who resigned this week for a security breach had left classified documents about a NATO summit at the home of his ex-girlfriend, the government said Tuesday.

AP - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that some foreign aid workers have gone into Myanmar's cyclone-ravaged delta without problems, reflecting a "new spirit of cooperation" by the ruling junta.