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ON BOARD FLIGHT TO BEIJING (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged China on Wednesday to make more progress on human rights, saying the issue needed to be addressed not only during the Olympic Games.

LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambian Vice President Rupiah Banda, a prominent businessman, has taken over as head of government after the death of President Levy Mwanawasa and will call early elections, officials said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With speculation over U.S. vice presidential picks at a boil, prediction markets on Wednesday judged Democrat Joseph Biden and Republicans Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty most likely to get the nod.

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - The United States has seen initial signs that Russia is withdrawing some of its forces from Georgia but Moscow is not moving fast enough, the White House said on Wednesday.

MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish jet heading for the Canary Islands crashed on takeoff and burst into flames at Madrid airport on Wednesday, killing 153 of the people on board, the government said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans remain deeply worried about a faltering economy and their own financial futures, but their outlook improved slightly this month, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora vowed on Wednesday to strengthen ties with Iraq, calling for it to be "reintegrated into the Arab world", as he became the second Arab leader to visit since Saddam Hussein's fall.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a sharp turnaround, Republican John McCain has opened a 5-point lead on Democrat Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential race and is seen as a stronger manager of the economy, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will officially open parliament on Tuesday despite opposition warnings that such a move would endanger crucial power-sharing talks.

WARSAW (Reuters) - The United States and Poland signed a deal on Wednesday to station parts of a U.S. missile defense shield on Polish soil, drawing a sharp response from Moscow.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Deadlock between Pakistan's coalition partners over the restoration of deposed judges has raised questions about the survival of the government that forced President Pervez Musharraf's resignation.

BOUIRA, Algeria (Reuters) - Two car bombs in Algeria killed 12 people and wounded 42 on Wednesday, the latest attacks in the bloodiest week of unrest in years and a blow to hopes the OPEC member state can soon end an Islamist insurgency.

GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) - Floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains left some 50,000 people homeless in India's remote northeast, officials said on Wednesday, warning of more rains in one of the country's most flood-prone regions.

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) - A earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.5 jolted eastern Japan on Wednesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

KABUL (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday French troops must stay in Afghanistan to fight terrorism, a day after insurgents killed 10 French troops, the biggest single loss of foreign forces in Afghan combat since 2001.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of September 11 victims' families appealed to White House hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama on Wednesday to suspend all campaigning on the anniversary of the 2001 attacks as a show of respect.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Guinness World Records has returned the title of world's tallest man to China's Bao Xishun after Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk refused to be measured under new guidelines.

BEIJING (Reuters) - At least eight American blogger-activists and several other foreigners have been detained in Beijing as the government intensifies a crackdown on pro-Tibetan protests in the home stretch of the Olympics, rights groups said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran's attempted satellite launch was a failure that fell far short of claimed successes, U.S. security officials said on Tuesday, but an analyst said the test still marked progress toward a potential weapon.

BEIJING (Reuters) - An earthquake hit southwest China on Wednesday, knocking down houses and forcing around 1,200 people to evacuate from near the site of a devastating quake which killed at least 70,000 people in May, state media said.