AP - A quake-formed lake continued to swell Monday even though soldiers used dynamite and anti-tank weapons to blow up boulders in a diversion channel to try to speed its drainage.

AP - Iran's supreme leader told the visiting Iraqi prime minister Monday that the U.S. military presence is the main cause of Iraq's problems, according to Iranian state television, making clear his opposition to a U.S.-Iraqi security pact.

AP - Lawyers rallied against President Pervez Musharraf across Pakistan on Monday, burning him in effigy, calling for his ouster and demanding the reinstatement of judges in the kick-off of a campaign that could strain the shaky coalition government.

AP - Pakistani intelligence agents and paramilitary forces have helped train Taliban insurgents and have given them information about American troop movements in Afghanistan, said a report published Monday by a U.S. think tank.

AP - Like so many other victims of Ethiopia's hunger crisis, Usheto Beriso weighs just half of what he should. He is always cold and swaddled in a blanket. His limbs are stick-thin.

AFP - Australia's former conservative leader John Howard was Monday awarded the country's highest honour in the Queen's birthday awards list, in recognition of his services to the nation.

AFP - Bangladesh's emergency government announced Monday it was releasing former premier Sheikh Hasina Wajed, currently detained on corruption charges, so she can travel abroad for medical treatment.

AFP - Militants attacked an oil security vessel off the Nigerian coast early Monday and seized eight navy personnel, the military said.

AP - A suicide truck bomber who concealed his explosives under tanned animal hides struck a U.S. patrol base Sunday in northern Iraq, killing one U.S. soldier and wounding 18 other Americans, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

AFP - England captain Michael Vaughan cannot wait to have star all-rounder Andrew Flintoff back for the Test series with South Africa even if it creates a headache over who to drop.

AP - Iraq's prime minister pushed Iran's leaders to back off their fierce opposition to a proposed security pact with the U.S. on Sunday, promising that his country will not be a launching pad for any attack on them.

AP - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday urged Colombian rebels to lay down their weapons, unilaterally free dozens of hostages and end a decades-long armed struggle.