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TOYAKO, Japan: US President George W. Bush's last Group of Eight (G8) summit only inched forward the fight against climate change but drew the battle lines more sharply than ever between rich and poor nations. The G8 major industrial powers agreed to cut carbon emissions blamed for global warming by at least half by 2050, but developing nations shot back by insisting that rich countries were most to blame for climate change and needed to commit to bigger and quicker emissions cuts.
-- AFP
VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI, embarking on a trip to Australia for the World Youth Day on Saturday, follows in the footsteps of John Paul II, who made two memorable visits Down Under in 1986 and 1995, and Paul VI who went in 1970. Unlike his predecessors, however, Benedict will not venture outside of Sydney. Paul VI, the first pope to travel to the region, set the stage for long-haul papal travel, which John Paul II then turned into a hallmark of his papacy.
-- AFP
BEIJING: Talks on North Korea's nuclear programs were set to resume on Thursday after a nine-month break. Envoys from the six nations involved in the talks were due to gather in Beijing from 4 p.m. (0800 GMT) to capitalize on recent progress that saw the North last month finally give a declaration of its nuclear activities. The United States responded to the North's declaration by easing some trade sanctions and beginning the process of taking the North off its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
-- AFP
DHAKA: A mystery illness health experts are describing as a type of "mass hysteria" has struck students at four schools in Bangladesh in the past week, forcing them to close temporarily. The condition appears highly contagious-as soon as one student becomes ill, others are immediately struck with similar symptoms, usually headaches, acute pain and even fainting, officials say. Most of the victims are teenage girls, said Salahuddin Khan, chief medical officer of Jessore district, where the affected schools are.
-- AFP
BOGOTA: The United States Wednesday formally requested the extradition of two members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)-Gerardo Antonio Aguilar, known as "Cesar," and Alexander Farfan, alias "Enrique Gafas." The two are being held in a high-security detention center in the Colombian capital and were earlier seized by the Colombian army during a hostage-rescue operation on July 2 that freed 15 hostages, including politician Ingrid Betancourt, who had been held for years by FARC, Colombia's largest anti-government group.
-- Xinhua
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: The Lebanese army boosted its forces in the northern city of Tripoli on Thursday to try to shore up a ceasefire after four people were killed in gunbattles between rival sectarian factions. Dozens of army vehicles moved into the restive districts of Bab al-Tebbaneh and Jabal Mohsen in the northeast of the port city where fierce fighting between rival factions erupted late on Tuesday. Fighting intensified overnight despite a ceasefire that was meant to come into effect on Wednesday.
-- AFP
A million people in northeastern India face famine after rats destroyed most of the rice crop in their state, the International Rice Research Institute has said. The 2007 infestation spread over to the border areas of Bangladesh and Myanmar in early 2008, "increasing fears of widespread food shortages," said the institute, whose headquarters are in the Philippines. The infestation left the Indian state of Mizoram, home to about a million people, with just one-fifth of its monthly rice requirement.
-- AFP
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