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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.

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.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Darfur's new chief mediator Djibril Bassole made his first visit to Sudan on Sunday to begins the uphill task of reviving a stalled peace process.

LONDON (Reuters) - Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said on Sunday Zimbabwe's main opposition was preparing to hold talks with President Robert Mugabe's party.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki flies to Europe this week to meet leaders in Germany and Italy, woo businessmen and hold talks with Pope Benedict.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A quake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale hit Indonesia's Central Java, but there was no tsunami risk or reports of damage, the country's meteorological agency said on Sunday.

HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A foreign airstrike killed nine Afghan policemen in western Afghanistan overnight after a clash in which both sides mistook the other for Taliban militants, Afghan officials said on Sunday.

KOHAT, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter gunships have killed 15 Taliban militants and captured 60 in an operation that began mid-week in a troubled northwestern town, the military said on Sunday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Add one more contest to the spectacles on show during the Beijing Olympic Games -- the national protest hurdle.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki did not back the plan of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and his comments to a German magazine on the issue were misunderstood, the government's spokesman said on Sunday.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Militants fired on an army outpost and killed three villagers in separate attacks in Thailand's restive Muslim south, police said on Sunday, days after an unknown rebel group declared a ceasefire.

MANAGUA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people filled Nicaragua's capital on Saturday to celebrate the country's 1979 leftist revolution, giving a lift to President Daniel Ortega as his government faces simmering protests.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's president described talks with world powers on its disputed nuclear program as a step forward on Sunday, official media said, even though the meeting in Geneva failed to produce any breakthrough in the standoff.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Kalmaegi, killed 18 people and injured another eight, while seven are still missing after it hit the island, an official from the National Fire Agency said on Sunday.