AP - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will insist Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressure Israel to stop settlement construction when they meet this week, an aide to Abbas said Saturday.

AFP - European Union peacekeepers returned fire after coming under attack in eastern Chad Saturday, a spokesman said, as rebel forces briefly seized a nearby town and vowed to capture the capital, Ndjamena.

AP - Political leaders across Europe were shaking their heads in frustration this weekend at the Irish voters' veto of the latest European Union treaty. But many of their citizens weren't.

AP - The girl was 11 when she was molested by a man with no legs.

AP - Rescue squads and military helicopters raced to find 11 people missing after an earthquake in mountainous northern Japan sent hillsides crashing down Saturday, killing at least six and injuring more than 140.

AP - Iran rejected a six-nation offer of incentives to stop enriching uranium on Saturday, prompting President Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to jointly warn Tehran anew against proceeding toward a nuclear bomb.

AP - U.S. and NATO troops aided Afghan forces with reconnaissance in a hunt Saturday for 870 inmates who escaped prison after a sophisticated Taliban assault that even NATO conceded was a success for the militants.

AP - Islamic rebels ambushed an army vehicle and killed five Indian soldiers, including two senior officers, in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said Saturday.

AFP - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe raised the spectre of war on Friday if his arch-rival triumphs in a June 27 election, while the opposition accused authorities of trying to "cripple" their campaign.

AP - President-elect Fernando Lugo, whose historic election ended six decades of one-party rule in Paraguay, on Friday named a former leftist militant to head his Cabinet when he takes office on Aug. 15.

AFP - Three climate change protesters who breached security at the Houses of Parliament, climbing on to the roof and unfurling banners, have been charged with trespassing, police have said.

AP - Soaring oil and food prices are emerging as serious threats to global economic growth, finance ministers from the world's top industrialized nations said Saturday, while vowing to work together to address the problem.

AP - When Bangladesh's military-backed government arrested more than 10,000 people, human rights activists denounced it as a political crackdown six months ahead of elections at the end of this year meant to restore elected government. In Washington, the Bush administration was largely silent.

AP - A spokesman for Hamas says representatives plan to travel to Cairo to discuss an Egyptian-mediated truce with Israel.