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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea appears close to making a long-overdue declaration of its nuclear programs, the top U.S. negotiator with Pyongyang said on Monday in an upbeat assessment after months of difficult negotiations.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.S. envoy to the United Nations on Monday welcomed the visit of a special U.N. human rights investigator to probe racism but said the Human Rights Council should focus on "real problems" elsewhere.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Democrats on Monday said White House pressure may have influenced the Environmental Protection Agency to reject a bid by California to impose strict limits on emissions from new cars and trucks.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi and U.S. forces have arrested about 100 suspects thought to be crucial to the operations of militant groups in al Qaeda's last haven of north Iraq, the commander of U.S. forces in the area said on Monday.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela accused the United States on Monday of violating its airspace around two small Caribbean islands over the weekend in what it said was a provocation coordinated with neighboring Colombia.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama hailed the fall of the Berlin Wall as a symbol of peaceful protest in an address to some 20,000 supporters which strove to reassure China he was not seeking independence for Tibet.

COVINGTON, Ky (Reuters) - The state of Kentucky, best known for thoroughbred horses and bourbon, is surprised and a little excited to find itself at the center of Democratic presidential politics.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said ethanol is not having a "major" impact on food prices, and downplayed calls by lawmakers and industry groups to make changes to programs that promote increased use of biofuels.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain accused Democratic front-runner Barack Obama on Monday of underestimating the threat posed by Iran and ridiculed his pledge to meet its leader if elected.

RAFAH, Egypt (Reuters) - Leaders from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas arrived in Egypt on Monday to hear Israel's response to a six-month truce offer between Palestinians in Gaza and the Jewish state.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The United Nations urged the world on Monday to back a global ban on cluster bombs, calling the munitions unreliable and indiscriminate.

ROME (Reuters) - Soaring food prices, a devalued currency and drought mean millions of people in Somalia cannot feed themselves, the United Nations said on Monday.

NASSIRIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - A local Iraqi police chief was killed on Monday when a bomb placed under his bed in the local police headquarters exploded as he slept, police said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said on Monday that Republican critics should stop picking on his wife Michelle.

JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas have arrested two Islamic Jihad leaders, a Palestinian security official said on Monday, in a U.S.-backed law-and-order campaign in the occupied West Bank.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition accused military intelligence agents on Monday of a plot to kill party leader Morgan Tsvangirai that it said forced him to postpone his return to the country over the weekend.

SIRARO, Ethiopia (Reuters) - Ethiopian mother Ayantu Tamon has lost a child to hunger every year for the last four and now cradles her severely malnourished and weakened three-year-old son Hirbu in her arms.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's President-elect, Ma Ying-jeou, will take office on Tuesday with a pledge to improve ties with China, symbolically sending his party's chairman to Beijing as one of his first acts in power.

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The Taliban in Afghanistan are getting weaker, the U.S. ambassador tells local councilors in the eastern city of Ghazni, but he is met by a wall of shaking heads and tutting noises; 'no, no', some reply.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Monday vowed to aid small farmers by targeting agricultural tariffs and subsidies doled out to agribusiness.