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PARIS (Reuters) - Ingrid Betancourt urged Colombian rebels to free all hostages as she addressed a rally in the French capital on Sunday that was part of a series of demonstrations around the world to protest against kidnappings.

BEIJING (Reuters) - One of Beijing's most important subway lines seized up on Monday when the mass of passengers forced workers to close off entrances for safety on the first working day of pre-Olympic traffic restrictions. Passengers were being allowed off Line 2, which runs in a loop around central Beijing, but not on to it. At least one major transfer station, at Jianguomen, was closed.

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least 36 people were killed in clashes between security forces and militants in a part of southwest Pakistan where nationalist rebels have fought a low-level insurgency for years, paramilitary officials said on Monday.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An armed gang attacked and set fire to a mine exploration rig at the giant Philippines Tampakan copper and gold prospect held jointly by Xstrata Copper and Australia-listed Indophil Resources NL, Indophil said on Monday.

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - A mudslide killed a Guatemalan family of 12 on Sunday, burying their house under tonnes of mud and rock, said local emergency workers.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese troops began withdrawing from the quake-hit province of Sichuan on Monday, as rescue work shifts to reconstruction more than two months after the tremor killed at least 70,000 people. China mobilized 130,000 troops and armed police in the weeks following the May 12 earthquake. The first group of 40,000 began pulling out on the orders of President Hu Jintao, who also chairs the Central Military Commission.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) urged Thailand and Cambodia to show "utmost caution and restraint" and offered to help resolve a stand-off between them, the head of the bloc's secretariat said on Monday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China flew a provincial Communist party boss to a remote rubber-growing area of southwestern Yunnan to investigate a weekend clash between police and residents in which two people were killed, state media said.

LAGOS (Reuters) - With oil prices at record highs, government coffers in the world's eighth biggest oil exporter are swollen to unprecedented levels.

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States, the European Union and emerging economic heavyweights will try again on Tuesday to line up the long-elusive trade-offs needed to save a deal to dismantle export barriers around the world.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday he would like to give the king of Spain a hug when he visits Europe next week, but the outspoken leader, referring to a diplomatic spat last year, said he will not shut up.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's main opposition party said it would not sign an accord paving the way for talks to end a political crisis until mediator South Africa addressed its concerns, but regional officials on Sunday appeared optimistic a breakthrough was possible.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's top military adviser said on Sunday setting an unconditional two-year timetable for getting U.S. troops out of Iraq in two years would be dangerous.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Developing countries and food exporters from rich and poor nations called on Sunday for the United States and European Union to open up their farm markets and eliminate trade-distorting subsidies.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Military-ruled Myanmar could release detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in about half a year, once a maximum detention period of six years has expired, Singapore's foreign minister said on Sunday.

MADRID (Reuters) - Five small bombs exploded in northern Spain on Sunday, including four at popular seaside resorts in Cantabria which were claimed by the Basque separatist group ETA and sent thousands of people fleeing for cover.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces shot dead the 17-year-old son and another relative of the governor of northern Iraq's Salahuddin province in a raid on Sunday, local officials said.

PARIS (Reuters) - Ingrid Betancourt urged Colombian rebels to free all hostages as she addressed a rally in the French capital on Sunday that was part of a series of demonstrations around the world to protest against kidnappings.

Michael Fiala is a senior photo editor based in Singapore who joined Reuters three years ago. He first traveled to mainland China in 1990 on the way to North Korea, and was transferred to Beijing the following year. Fiala has since kept close ties to China and in the following story he tells the story of a family of top Chinese basketball players who will be attending the Beijing Olympics in August as spectators after years working "for the glory of the country".

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will transfer ownership of all foreign-owned firms that support Western sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's government to locals and investors from "friendly" countries, a state newspaper reported on Sunday.