AFP - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Sunday urged the European Central Bank to show "flexibility" in its interest rate policy which he said was too focused on fighting inflation.

AP - France's first lady sings in English and dreams in Italian, and the president's roots reach to Hungary and Greece. Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy could be a metaphor for a harmonious, borderless Europe.

AP - Pakistani paramilitary forces destroyed a handful of militant centers and uncovered alleged torture cells as they pressed ahead Sunday with an offensive against extremists near the Afghan border, officials said.

AP - Israel's Cabinet overwhelmingly backed a deal Sunday with Hezbollah to swap a Lebanese prisoner convicted of a brutal 1979 attack for the bodies of two captured soldiers who were declared dead earlier in the day.

AP - President Robert Mugabe was sworn in for a sixth term Sunday, just hours after government officials said he overwhelmingly won a runoff that has been widely discredited. His main rival dismissed the inauguration as "an exercise in self-delusion."

AFP - Australia's senior Catholic leader said Sunday he would welcome Pope Benedict XVI addressing the issue of paedophile priests when he visits for World Youth Day next month.

AFP - Robert Mugabe was expected to be inaugurated for a new term as Zimbabwe's president on Sunday following a one-man election amid growing calls for his fellow African leaders to reject his legitimacy.

AP - Israel will allow the resumption of food shipments into the Gaza Strip on Sunday after a four-day halt in response to Palestinian rocket attacks, Israeli defense officials said.

AFP - A British soldier with NATO forces in Afghanistan has been killed in a mine blast in the troubled southern province of Helmand, the defence ministry in London and the alliance said Sunday.

AP - Protesters fought riot police early Sunday at a rally opposing the resumption of American beef imports to South Korea, hours after the chief U.S. diplomat vouched for the health of U.S. cattle.

AP - Police say a truck bomb has killed seven people in Iraq.

AP - Paramilitary troops returned Sunday to posts they had been forced to abandon and Pakistani forces widened their offensive against militants operating in a volatile tribal area along the Afghan border, an official said.