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BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia has stepped up its pursuit of fugitive Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic whose arrest is crucial to the country's European Union bid, a senior Serbian official said on Wednesday.

MINSK (Reuters) - Russia may consider deploying strategic bombers or station tactical missiles in its close ally Belarus as a counter-measure to a planned U.S. missile shield in Europe, Moscow's envoy to Minsk said on Wednesday.

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - The leaders of a coup in Mauritania may have won the support of many local politicians but they face a tide of international outrage for ousting the desert nation's first democratically elected president.

ABOARD AIRFORCE ONE (Reuters) - The White House said on Wednesday it believed world powers had to take further "punitive" measures against Iran because Tehran gave no concrete reply to their demand that it freeze its nuclear activities.

ABOARD AIRFORCE ONE (Reuters) - The White House said on Wednesday it believed Western powers had to take further "punitive" measures against Iran because Tehran gave no concrete reply to their demand that it freeze its nuclear activities.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition MDC on Wednesday called on their supporters to end political violence in the country, the most tangible sign of progress since power-sharing talks began two weeks ago.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's 4-month-old civilian government has suspended a decree issued last month to put the military's powerful and controversial spy agency under Interior Ministry control, according to an official statement.

DHAKA (Reuters) - European and American diplomats said on Wednesday they were impressed by the high turnout and efficient running of local elections in Bangladesh this week, calling the polls a step in the right direction ahead of December's national polls.

KABUL (Reuters) - A senior Afghan intelligence official has accused a number of parliamentarians of supporting Taliban insurgents, Afghan newspapers said on Wednesday.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani army helicopter airlifted a frost-bitten Italian climber to the nearest hospital on Wednesday, a day after he was brought down to the K2 base camp following the worst-ever climbing disaster on the mountain.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon, which closed its Talon intelligence database nearly a year ago amid concerns about domestic spying, will soon begin testing an unclassified alternative for tracking possible threats to U.S. military bases, officials said on Tuesday.

HASHARON PRISON, Israel (Reuters) - Israel released five Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday as part of a swap deal with the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrilla group that brought the bodies of two Israeli soldiers home.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's North Africa wing said it was behind a deadly suicide bombing in Algeria on Sunday, according to a statement posted on the Internet on Wednesday.

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's best known opposition politician Anwar Ibrahim is to be charged with sodomy on Thursday, potentially derailing his return to parliament and his plans to push the government out of office.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf delayed a visit to China on Wednesday by a day, the foreign ministry said, as opponents in the coalition government consulted over his possible impeachment.

SEOUL (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Wednesday that North Korea remained -- for now -- part of what he once branded an "axis of evil", but hoped the list would some day be empty.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's top court ruled on Tuesday that dozens of politicians, among them leading opponents of President Hugo Chavez, will not be allowed to run in regional elections later this year.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tens of thousands bowed their heads at a ceremony in the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Wednesday, the 63rd anniversary of the world's first atomic attack, as the city's mayor hit out at countries that refuse to abandon their bombs.

SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak pressed North Korea on Wednesday to agree on a verification plan for its nuclear weapons program or continue to face international isolation.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Euphoric crowds chanting "Go Olympics, Go Beijing" cheered the Olympic flame through Tiananmen Square on Wednesday at the end of its troubled global relay.