Top Stories - AFP

THE HAGUE (AFP) - A landmark international tribunal to try the suspected killers of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq Hariri opened here Sunday with pledges to provide justice to victims of terrorism.

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed on Sunday to hit back "severely" if militants in the Islamist Hamas-run Gaza Strip continue to fire rockets into Israel.

BEIJING (AFP) - China will launch a space module next year and carry out the nation's first space docking in 2011 as a step towards its goal of building a space station, state media said Sunday.

MONTREAL (AFP) - Three British explorers have set out on a 90-day skiing expedition to the North Pole, measuring sea ice thickness the whole way to find out exactly how fast it is disappearing, according to the Catlin Arctic Survey.

GENEVA (AFP) - Oswald Gruebel, the new chief executive of Switzerland's biggest bank, UBS, said in a newspaper interview published Sunday that he supported changes to banking secrecy to counter tax evasion.

MOSCOW, (AFP) - Russia will not experience a "dramatic" change in its situation due to the current economic crisis, President Dmitry Medvedev was quoted as saying by the Kremlin Sunday.

LONDON (AFP) - Ben Foster kept Manchester United's bid for an unprecedented five trophies on track with a man-of-the-match performance in a penalty shoot-out win over Tottenham in the League Cup final here on Sunday.

ROME (AFP) - AC Milan crashed to a 2-1 defeat at Antonio Cassano-inspired Sampdoria as the heat on coach Carlo Ancelotti cranked up another notch on Sunday.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada, (AFP) - Legendary Las Vegas performers Roy Horn and Siegfried Fischbacher said farewell to showbusiness, more than five years after a near-fatal on-stage tiger attack that ended their long-running double act.

DHAKA (AFP) - Bangladeshi soldiers recovered 10 more bodies in a second mass grave in a military compound in the capital Saturday, bringing to 76 the death toll from a mutiny staged by border guards over pay.

KHAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistan said on Saturday it had forced Taliban militants out of a key battleground in the global fight against extremism and boasted of major gains in another region bordering Afghanistan.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi on Saturday welcomed the pullout of US combat troops outlined by President Barack Obama but stressed that Washington still has a "great responsibility" to help Iraq.

CHINHOYI, Zimbabwe (AFP) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe vowed Saturday to press on with seizures of white-owned farms, even as he urged followers at his lavish birthday bash to respect the new unity government.

KINSHASA (AFP) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon Saturday urged the Democratic Republic of Congo's leader to buttress peace in the country's volatile east after a successful military offensive against Rwandan Hutu rebels.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US financial regulator has accused Texas financier Allen Stanford of committing a multi-billion-dollar fraud like that of Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff, documents showed Saturday.

GENEVA (AFP) - Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz said Saturday that Switzerland might have to make some concessions on banking secrecy to avoid being placed on an international backlist.

DUBLIN (AFP) - Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll downplayed all talk of a Six Nations Grand Slam despite seeing his side go one step closer with a 14-13 victory over England here at Croke Park.

EDINBURGH (AFP) - Simon Danielli emerged as Scotland's Six Nations wooden spoon hero as he set up a face-saving triumph over the land of his ancestors here on Saturday as the Scots beat Italy 26-6 at Murrayfield.

MILAN (AFP) - Top designers appealed to animal instincts at Milan Fashion Week on Saturday, using motifs from the wild wrapped in leather and fur for their autumn-winter collections.

CAMP LEJEUNE, North Carolina (AFP) - President Barack Obama Friday ordered an end to US combat in Iraq within 18 months, after a war which poisoned domestic politics and claimed a heavy toll in blood, dollars and lost US prestige.

DHAKA, (AFP) - Bangladesh's army pledged early Saturday to punish those responsible for the "barbaric" killing of dozens of officers after rebel border guards turned on their superiors in a bloody mutiny.

TEL AVIV (AFP) - Last-ditch efforts to form a broad-based Israeli coalition failed on Friday, paving the way for a rightist government and fuelling concerns about prospects for peace with the Palestinians.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US economy contracted a stronger-than-expected 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter, government data showed Friday, highlighting the stunning meltdown in activity late last year.

BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanon on Friday rejected demands to free four generals jailed in connection with the killing of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, two days before a UN tribunal into the assassination opens, a judicial source said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US government will boost its stake in Citigroup under a deal announced Friday aimed at shoring up confidence in the troubled banking giant.

LONDON (AFP) - Britain's Lloyds Banking Group, 43-percent state owned after a bailout, said Friday its HBOS unit made a pre-tax loss of 10.8 billion pounds (12.1 billion euros, 15.4 billion dollars) in 2008.

DUBAI (AFP) - Top-seeded Novak Djokovic survived a scare and an exhausting battle of just under three hours in intense heat before reaching the final of the Dubai Open on Friday.

PARIS (AFP) - France dashed Wales' hopes of a repeat of their Six Nations Grand Slam here on Friday winning a thrilling encounter 21-16.