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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States welcomed on Monday statements by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urging Colombian rebels to free hostages, but Washington said Caracas should also distance itself from the rebel group.

DJIBOUTI (Reuters) - Somalia's interim government and some opposition figures signed a peace deal on Monday that called for the rapid deployment of a robust U.N. stabilization force in the Horn of Africa nation.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.N. humanitarian chief defended on Monday the policy of working with Myanmar's military government after last month's cyclone, saying trying to deliver aid by force would not have helped the victims.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Monday he would impose a windfall profits tax on U.S. oil companies as he sought political gain from Americans' pain over high gasoline prices.

BRUSSELS (Reuters)- The United States and European Union plan a joint call for U.N. monitors to be sent to Zimbabwe after a human rights group alleged systematic government murder and brutality ahead of a presidential vote.

GENEVA (Reuters) - The Myanmar military junta's arrest of a popular comedian campaigning for victims of cyclone Nargis is part of continuing serious human rights violations in the country, a United Nations investigator said on Monday.

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Afghanistan will need foreign security aid for at least another decade before it can run its own affairs, Afghan president Hamid Karzai said on Monday.

HYANNIS PORT, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Sen. Edward Kennedy, the patriarch of America's most storied political family, returned home to Massachusetts on Monday, a week after surgery for removal of a malignant brain tumor.

LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush goes into his farewell European summit on Tuesday seeking to work with allies to ratchet up pressure on Iran over its nuclear program but still at odds with them over climate change.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish truck drivers blocked the border with France to all goods traffic on Monday as fuel price protests in Spain, France and Portugal raised fears of food and petrol shortages.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush acknowledged economic concerns as he left for Europe on Monday, saying the United States was committed to a strong dollar and that energy prices were high.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to hold a three-way meeting next week with the chief Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, a senior Palestinian official said on Monday.

DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Rescue workers located 24 miners alive after a gas explosion at a Ukraine colliery and were bringing them slowly to safety on Monday.

KARACHI (Reuters) - About 1,000 Pakistani lawyers and political activists gathered on Monday for the start of a cross-country rally to demand the restoration of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf.

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Former funnyman Al Franken hopes to convince Minnesotans that he can represent them in the buttoned-down halls of the U.S. Senate. So for now, jokes are off the record.

CHENGDU, China (Reuters) - Chinese troops are carving a third drainage channel into the unstable dam holding back a big "quake lake", as water levels rise and aftershocks send more debris tumbling into the water, state media reported on Monday.

GAZA (Reuters) - The leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip played down on Monday the chances of quick reconciliation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction.

VALMI, Greece (Reuters) - Villagers in southern Greece sifted through the rubble of homes and businesses for belongings on Monday, a day after an earthquake killed two people and injured scores of others.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader told visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday that the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq was the biggest obstacle to its development as a united country.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A systematic government campaign of murder and brutality has eliminated any chance of a fair presidential election in Zimbabwe, an international rights group said on Monday.