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LUSAKA (Reuters) - Thousands of Zambians mourned President Levy Mwanawasa on Saturday when his body was returned home after he died in France five days ago.

GAZA (Reuters) - Two boats carrying activists challenging an Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip reached the shore of the Hamas-controlled territory on Saturday.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday condemned a U.S.-led coalition air strike his government says killed 76 civilians, most of them women and children.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq wants an agreement authorizing the continued presence of U.S. troops on its soil to expire in three years, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said on Friday.

MANILA (Reuters) - At least 48 soldiers and civilians and scores of Muslim rebels have been killed in the southern Philippines in a week of fighting triggered by the collapse of a peace deal, the government said on Saturday.

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Pirates opened fire at a Japanese cargo ship off the coast of Somalia, but the vessel managed to survive the hijacking attempt, the International Maritime Bureau said on Saturday.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri appeared in a videotape posted on the Internet on Friday, the second recording since he was reported to have been killed or wounded in Pakistan last month.

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba and Russia have stirred memories of their Cold War alliance with recent talk of restoring "traditional" ties in what experts said was a warning to their old adversary, the United States.

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - An Indian army officer and a dozen separatist guerrillas were among 15 people killed in a gun battle raging near the border with Pakistan in Indian Kashmir, the army said on Saturday.

YANGON (Reuters) - A U.N. envoy left Myanmar on Saturday after failing to meet detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi or coax concessions from the military junta during his six-day mission, diplomats said.

MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani troops killed 35 militants in fighting in the Swat Valley northwest of Islamabad on Saturday, shortly after a suicide car-bomber killed eight policemen.

TOKYO (Reuters) - A 79-year-old woman slashed two women with a fruit knife near a crowded Tokyo railway station because she wanted police help after running away from a shelter for homeless people, police said on Saturday.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore is on the verge of a hand, foot and mouth disease outbreak, the Straits Times reported on Saturday, quoting government health officials.

POTI, Georgia (Reuters) - Small numbers of Russian troops dug in deep inside Georgia on Sunday and Western states demanded Moscow's forces leave a Black Sea port, two days after Moscow said it had wrapped up its withdrawal.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Typhoon Nuri, which shut down much of Hong Kong for a day, was gradually weakening on Saturday after making landfall in China, though it disrupted hundreds of flights and left three people dead in Guangdong province.

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and newly minted running mate Joseph Biden made their debut on Saturday, with Biden declaring "it's our time" and quickly going on the attack against Republican John McCain.

DENVER (Reuters) - A jail inmate was charged on Friday with sending a threatening letter laced with white powder to U.S. presidential candidate John McCain, triggering a security scare at his Colorado campaign office.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Australian government is investigating a media report that 13 Indian children may have been stolen from their parents as part of a child-trafficking network and brought to Australia for adoption.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil is resuming action at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to take retaliatory trade measures against the United States over subsidies it pays its cotton farmers, the foreign minister said on Friday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Olympic host city Beijing was sunny and clear on the 15th day of the Games on Saturday, with temperatures expected to rise for a broiling midday men's football final between defending champions Argentina and Nigeria.