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COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan government forces killed at least 18 Tamil Tiger rebels and lost five of their own soldiers as they bombarded guerrilla-held areas in the north of the island from land, sea and air, the military said on Sunday.

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka must act to prevent human rights abuses including abductions, the intimidation of media personnel and the recruitment of child soldiers as it fights a 25-year civil war against Tamil Tiger rebels, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said on Sunday.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A roadside explosion in Mogadishu on Sunday killed at least 14 people, most of them women who were sweeping a street in the Somali capital, witnesses said. Nearly 50 people were wounded.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda confirmed on Sunday that Abu Khabab al-Masri, a chemical and biological weapons expert, was killed with three other militants in a suspected U.S. air strike in Pakistan's border region last week.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A global AIDS conference that opens in Mexico City on Sunday is meant for people infected with HIV, but transsexual sex worker Elma Delea cannot get inside.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Talks between Zimbabwe's ruling party and opposition on ending the political crisis resumed on Sunday after adjourning early last week, South Africa's presidency said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite long insisting that sports and politics don't mix, U.S. President George W. Bush will have a hard time keeping them separate when he visits China this week for the Beijing Olympics.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi parliamentarians failed on Sunday to pass a law on provincial elections, putting the date of important polls in doubt and leaving unresolved a political standoff that has stoked ethnic tensions.

CHANDIGARH, India (Reuters) - At least 145 people, mostly women and children, were crushed to death under the feet of thousands of pilgrims in a stampede at a temple in northern India on Sunday, police said.

GILGIT, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least nine climbers have perished on K-2 in Pakistan in the worst day for mountaineering on the world's second-highest peak, and the toll could rise further, expedition organizers said on Sunday.

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Pakistan's prime minister said there was no evidence linking his country to attacks on India, adding such accusations had hurt the peace process, a report said on Sunday.

GAZA (Reuters) - About 30 pro-Fatah Palestinians who fled to Israel after fierce clashes in the Gaza Strip were sent back to the Hamas-controlled enclave on Sunday and the Islamist group said its forces immediately detained them.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved the release of five Palestinian prisoners as part of a swap deal with the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrilla group that brought the bodies of two Israeli soldiers home.

KABUL (Reuters) - A roadside bomb struck a U.S.-led military convoy outside the Afghan capital on Sunday, killing one soldier and wounding another, the military said.

TIZI OUZOU, Algeria (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded near a police station in a town east of Algiers on Sunday, wounding 25 people including four policemen, the government of the OPEC member country said.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's embattled prime minister, Gordon Brown, suffered another blow on Sunday with the publication of a memo in which Tony Blair heaps scorn on his successor's performance in office.

MILAN (Reuters) - Concerns about China's human rights record and its polluted air have dampened public interest around the world in the Beijing Olympics, a research group said.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb killed eight people and wounded 14 others in a Sunni Arab area of Baghdad on Sunday, Iraqi police said.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese and foreign citizens wishing to protest during the Beijing Olympics must apply five days beforehand and not harm China's vaguely defined "national interests", a Games security official said.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's commerce minister has called the collapse of trade liberalization talks a heavy blow, telling state media his country will brace for more trade friction and pursue closer regional cooperation.