LISBON - Angola's former rebel group UNITA night condemned sanctions imposed against it by the U.N. Security Council and said it would have to reconsider its role in Angolan politics.
NIAMEY - The United States has sharply criticised the government of Niger over its tough new press law under which a journalist and the head of the West African nation's human rights league have been jailed.
SINGAPORE - Asia stock markets slumped on Thursday, led by a five percent retreat in Hong Kong, following a late round of profit-taking on Wall Street.
UNITED NATIONS - The Security Council condemned Iraq's decison on Wednesday to bar Americans from U.N. weapons inspection teams on its territory and warned of unspecified "serious consequences" if Baghdad persisted. Iraq earlier gave the 10 Americans among about 100 U.N. arms personnel now in the country a week to leave, as from Thursday morning.
LONDON - Britain said that military action against Iraq could not be ruled out unless it complied with United Nations weapons inspections.
NEW YORK - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan soothed the ragged nerves of world financial markets, saying the recent turmoil in financial markets would eventually be viewed as healthy.
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said talks with Israel in the United States would be a waste of time because the Jewish state's negotiator would not be authorised to make concessions.
DUBLIN - The people of Ireland headed to the polls to choose a new president.
LILLE, France - Public transport in the French city of Lille was at a standstill as bus, tram and metro drivers went on strike after a colleague was attacked and a bus fire-bombed.
PHNOM PENH - Former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary abandoned a policy of neutrality in Cambodia's political manoeuvring and threw his political and military support behind government leader Hun Sen.
WASHINGTON - A $3 million political advertising campaign aimed at bolstering Republican candidates in the final weeks of the 1996 election was funded by leading conservative contributors, new documents obtained by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee show.
WASHINGTON - Months before their existence would be disclosed at Senate hearings, President Richard Nixon ordered that his secret White House tapes be destroyed.
NAIROBI - Peace talks between the Sudan government and souhern rebels should start in earnest after an opening ceremony that brought the two sides together for the first time since 1994.
WASHINGTON - Bosnia's Muslim-Croat Federation is expected to destroy more than 100 artillery pieces or mortars by Friday, clearing the way for the import of U.S. howitzers.
SRINAGAR, India - India slapped a night-time curfew on the de facto frontier with Pakistan in Kashmir after a series of grenade explosions in the disputed territory.
ROME - Italy's government and trade union leaders adjourned crucial talks on cutting the country's welfare bill until Thursday and agreed to hold "non-stop" meetings until a decision was reached.
WARSAW - Prime Minister-designate Jerzy Buzek submitted a cabinet, agreed on by his Solidarity bloc and the Freedom Union party in tough coalition talks, for formal approval by the president.
KUALA LUMPUR - Leaders of developing nations from three continents gather in Malaysia next week to press for greater access to rich countries' markets and assess the global financial turmoil that has engulfed their economies.
