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ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani Taliban spokesman denied on Saturday a U.S. media report that al Qaeda number two, Ayman al Zawahri, might have been killed or wounded in a U.S. missile strike in Pakistan's border region last Monday.

BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) - Two thirds of Somalia's cabinet ministers resigned on Saturday, officials said, widening a rift between the president and prime minister that threatens to wreck the country's interim government.

GAZA (Reuters) - Three Hamas policemen and six pro-Fatah gunmen were killed in the Gaza Strip on Saturday in the deadliest confrontation between the rival factions since Hamas seized control of the coastal territory a year ago.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Normally smog-plagued Beijing bathed in blue skies and sunshine on Saturday in just the sort of weather the Chinese pray will grace their Olympics and banish athletes' health fears six days before the big start.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Iran has so far ignored an informal Saturday deadline to respond to an offer by major powers on its nuclear program, a European Union official said, but European diplomats are ready to wait longer for an answer.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military in Iraq has released more than 10,000 detainees so far this year, it said on Saturday, at least a 12 percent increase on the total number freed in 2007.

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Terrorists were gaining a deeper grip in Pakistan, and were receiving institutional nurturing and support, Afghanistan's president said on Saturday, calling on South Asian countries to stop playing geo-political games.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Water containing a small amount of radiation leaked from a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine that stopped by Japan earlier this year, the U.S. Navy and Japanese government said on Saturday, prompting calls by civic groups for full disclosure.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - A Qantas flight bound for the Philippines was forced to turn back to Sydney on Saturday after the pilot discovered a hydraulic fluid leak, just eight days after a major emergency involving another of the carrier's aircraft.

COLOMBO (Reuters) - The leaders of South Asia called for fighting terrorism together as a regional summit overshadowed by worsening ties between India and Pakistan, its biggest members, opened on Saturday.

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Friday he would back limited offshore drilling as part of a broader energy package that attempted to bring down gas prices and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A United Nations investigation into the March storming of a courthouse by U.N. and NATO troops in northern Kosovo criticizes the force for rushing in, diplomats briefed on its contents said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers are questioning the biggest U.S. Internet companies about whether they track their customers' visits online and use the information to tailor Internet advertisements for them.

CARTAGENA, Colombia (Reuters) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Friday urged the United States to slap severe sentences on drug traffickers extradited from his country, in a rare rebuke from a staunch U.S. ally.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress began a five-week recess on Friday, leaving unresolved how to ease the surge in gasoline prices that is certain to be an issue until the November elections and beyond.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate confirmed a new American ambassador to South Korea on Friday, after a senator dropped his objections upon getting promises the Bush administration would urge North Korea to improve human rights.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Darfur rebels on Friday criticized a U.N. Security Council resolution linking a U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force to African concerns at a move to indict Sudan's president for war crimes.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's president said on Friday the Islamic Republic would "stand against" its enemies with its "power", speaking just before a deadline set by Western officials in a dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - A 40-year-old man was charged on Friday with second degree murder after a fellow passenger was stabbed to death aboard a Greyhound bus on the Canadian Prairies and then beheaded.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Myanmar's military junta has invited a U.N. investigator to make his first visit next week so he can assess the human rights situation in the Southeast Asian country, the United Nations said on Friday.