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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund has hired two big-name PR agencies to help spread the fund's message throughout the developing world, a move that also comes as it seeks to buff up its image.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Three people in Ontario have died in a food poisoning outbreak that may be linked to sandwich meat from one of the country's largest meat processors, Canadian health officials said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund has hired two big-name PR agencies to help spread the fund's message throughout the developing world, a move that also comes as it seeks to buff up its image.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman checked out of Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital on Friday, following several days of tests and observation regarding an elevated heart rate, the Energy Department said.

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.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said on Friday that serious negotiations in world trade talks should resume in September to see whether a deal is still possible this year.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A draft agreement between the United States and Iraq contains no fixed dates for U.S. forces to withdraw, but Iraq would like combat troops out by the end of 2011, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said on Thursday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California will not investigate claims by former employees of IndyMac Bancorp Inc that a New York senator triggered the bank's collapse by releasing confidential information, the attorney general's office said on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has handled the economic downturn better than any other regional politician and it would be a "great idea" if he sought a third term, Gov. David Paterson said on Friday.

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.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the Middle East next week, a spokesman said on Friday as the Bush administration continued efforts for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal this year.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada is one of the top three world suppliers of the psychedelic drug ecstasy, and a significant supplier of marijuana to the United States, the government admitted on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. envoy for nuclear talks with North Korea met his North Korean counterparts on Friday, the State Department said, as negotiators seek to break a deadlock over verifying Pyongyang's nuclear programs.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe police said on Friday there had been an attempt to blow up a road and rail bridge on one of the country's major highways near Harare.

KISMAYU, Somalia (Reuters) - Islamist rebels seized control of this strategic port in southern Somalia on Friday after the worst fighting in the area for months killed 70 people, residents said.

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.

SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Russian flags hung from balconies, many cheered the army sent to fight Georgian troops and the town planned a hero's welcome for the ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - A newborn baby abandoned outdoors in winter by her 14-year-old mother was found safe in a dog pen with a mother dog and her brood of puppies near the city of La Plata, Argentine media reported on Friday.

TYRE, Lebanon (Reuters) - Many of the 44 teams clearing cluster munitions scattered by Israel in south Lebanon during its 2006 war with Hezbollah will have to stop work this month for lack of funds, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Friday.

ALMATY (Reuters) - A strong earthquake rattled the Uzbek capital Tashkent on Friday, rocking buildings and sending people running outdoors in fear, witnesses and the emergency ministry said.