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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has added a large Spanish-owned bank to the list of companies to be run by the government in the oil exporting nation, furthering his plans of building a socialist state.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill that aims to improve U.S. consumer product safety after millions of Chinese-made toys were recalled last summer cleared Congress on Thursday and now goes to President George W. Bush for his signature into law.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council renewed the mandate for peacekeepers in Darfur on Thursday in a resolution that Washington criticized for raising concerns about moves to indict Sudan's president for genocide.

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic appeared before a U.N. war crimes judge for the first time on Thursday to answer genocide charges and said he had been kidnapped and feared for his life.

DAKAR (Reuters) - Chaotic transport is a part of life in West Africa, but getting to work has become even harder as rocketing fuel prices ignite protests by bus and taxi drivers, squeeze family budgets and encourage fuel smuggling.

KABUL (Reuters) - Violence in Afghanistan has reached its worst level since 2001 with more than 260 civilians killed in July alone, a group of 100 aid agencies said on Friday, calling on all sides to do more to protect the lives of non-combatants.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's popularity has slumped to a record low, but a change in leader will not help the ruling Labour Party win the next election, according to an opinion poll published on Friday.

RACINE, Wisconsin (Reuters) - Republican White House hopeful John McCain accused Democrat Barack Obama on Thursday of playing racial politics in some of the most biting back-and-forth of the presidential campaign.

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (Reuters) - Two prominent evangelical Christians praised their dialogue with Muslim leaders on Thursday at the end of a three-day conference seeking ways to ease tensions between the world's two largest faiths.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed legislation smoothing the way for Libya to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to compensate U.S. victims of bombing attacks that Washington blames on Tripoli.

ROME (Reuters) - State prosecutors in Italy lodged an appeal on Thursday against a court ruling authorizing a man to remove the feeding tube which has kept his comatose daughter alive for 16 years.

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - The Guantanamo war crimes court conducted its first secret session on Thursday to hear defense testimony from a U.S. Army psychiatrist who helped train mental health officials involved in prisoner interrogations.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of lawmakers is working on another comprehensive energy bill to try to break the Congressional deadlock over how to contain the price of gasoline, which looming as one of the biggest issues in U.S. elections, a Democratic aide said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Sen. Ted Stevens pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges of concealing more than $250,000 in gifts from an oil services company, and his lawyer asked for a quick trial in an effort to clear his name before the November election.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation that seeks to protect college students from lending abuses and expands scholarship aid was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead six people, including children, in western Mexico in an execution-style massacre of the kind often carried out by drug gangs, Mexico media said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge ruled on Thursday that Congress in its fight with the Bush administration can subpoena current and former top White House aides in its investigation over the firing of U.S. attorneys.

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - U.S. military prosecutors finished their case against Osama bin Laden's driver on Thursday after presenting a week's worth of evidence in the first trial in the war crimes court at the Guantanamo Bay naval base.

DAKAR (Reuters) - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Thursday he was "fairly satisfied" with talks with President Robert Mugabe's party to end a political crisis, and said a Monday, August 4 deadline was "not inflexible".

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua said on Thursday the biggest problem in Africa's most populous nation was poor leadership and rounded on public servants who abused their positions of power to gain personal wealth.