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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Bombs killed at least 40 people in Iraq on Thursday, including 20 at a tribal council meeting in Anbar province just days before the U.S. military transfers control of security for the vast western region to Iraqi forces.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Rival political activists clashed in Pakistan on Thursday as by-elections were held for five National Assembly seats and 25 provincial assembly seats and several people were wounded, police said.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese athletes have begun a spartan, chopstick-free Chinese food training program to help them acclimatize for this year's Beijing Olympics.

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a makeshift rocket into southern Israel on Thursday, putting further strain on a week-old truce as Israel kept border crossings into the Hamas-ruled territory closed.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's envoy to the strike-torn Sudanese region of Darfur on Thursday accused western media and non-governmental groups of stirring up anti-Chinese feelings among opposition groups in the African country.

SIBUYAN ISLAND, Philippines (Reuters) - Relatives said goodbye to their missing kin at the site of a capsized ferry in the central Philippines on Thursday fearing they will not see them again; dead or alive.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabweans vote in a one-sided presidential run-off on Friday after President Robert Mugabe defied mounting world condemnation and calls to postpone an election which the opposition says is a farce.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Anti-graft authorities in a southern Chinese city are questioning mistresses of suspected corrupt officials and finding the information is paying off prettily, state media said on Thursday.

SHANGRI-LA, China (Reuters) - Excusing himself from the banquet table, Liao Chunlei stood up, wine glass in hand, and belted out a traditional folk song with colleagues as his face turned red with drink.

BUENAVENTURA, Colombia (Reuters) - Colombians who thought they had seen everything in the war on drugs were treated to something new this year: cocaine smuggling in a submarine.

WASHINGTON/GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush believes the Iran nuclear issue can be solved diplomatically and that U.S. allies including Israel favor the same approach, the White House said on Wednesday.

GENEVA (Reuters) - HIV/AIDS infection rates are growing among intravenous drug users, prostitutes and gay men around the globe but they are often viewed as outcasts and refused treatment, according to a report issued on Thursday.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico City's top prosecutor on Wednesday said a senior police officer's decision to seal the exit of a crowded disco during a raid last week caused a dozen people to die.

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia elected a former ally of late autocrat Slobodan Milosevic to the post of speaker of parliament late on Wednesday, paving the way for a new pro-European coalition government to be sworn in within a week.

WASHINGTON/GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush believes the Iran nuclear issue can be solved diplomatically and that U.S. allies including Israel favor the same approach, the White House said on Wednesday.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Breaking with years of secrecy, Mexico's drug gangs are battling it out in public with audacious hit-lists and threats on banners strung up on streets as drug murders soar out of control.

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel kept its border crossings with the Gaza Strip shut on Wednesday, saying it was in response to a Palestinian rocket salvo that breached an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire.

NIAMEY (Reuters) - Tuareg-led rebels in Niger handed over four French hostages to the Red Cross on Wednesday after three days in captivity.

VIENNA (Reuters) - Syria gave U.N. investigators a good look at the site of what Washington says was a secret nuclear reactor before Israel destroyed it, but initial checks were inconclusive and more are needed, they said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Hundreds of passengers were evacuated from a train on Moscow's underground railway on Wednesday after a derailment blocked a busy line, leading to huge crowds on other routes.