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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki raised the prospect on Monday of setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops as part of negotiations over a new security agreement with Washington.

TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - World leaders raised the prospect of more sanctions against Zimbabwe on Monday unless quick progress is made to end a political crisis after a violent election that extended President Robert Mugabe's 28-year rule.

MADRID (Reuters) - Eight people have been taken to hospital, mainly for bruising and concussion, on the first day of the annual bull running festival in the northern Spanish town of Pamplona on Monday, organizers said.

TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - Moscow and Washington should keep up dialogue despite failing to overcome differences on U.S. missile defense plans in Europe, a key irritant in ties, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday.

ROME (Reuters) - Italian trains, buses and subways ground to a halt on Monday as workers staged a nationwide strike to demand a renewal of their expired labor contracts.

TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday kept up his tradition of informal relations with fellow world leaders by summoning Prime Minister Stephen Harper with a brusque "Yo Harper!"

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's new government will focus on quick entry into the European Union, strengthening the country's economy and keeping Kosovo as a part of Serbia, Prime Minister designate Mirko Cvetkovic said on Monday.

MIAMI (Reuters) - A lawyer for a defendant in the Argentine "suitcase scandal" said a U.S. government witness has sworn that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was personally involved in the affair, according to a U.S. court filing.

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Saturday his plan to end the Iraq war was unchanged and he was puzzled by the sharp reaction to his statement this week that he might "refine" his timetable for withdrawing U.S. combat troops.

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain clashed over how to boost the ailing U.S. economy on Monday, with Obama pushing for a new stimulus package to help homeowners and McCain pressing for low income taxes and incentives for small business.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak sacked three ministers on Monday in his first cabinet reshuffle, trying to restore support for his four-month-old government embattled over an unpopular U.S. beef import deal.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel will begin exhuming bodies of Hezbollah fighters on Monday ahead of a planned swap with the Lebanese guerrilla group, which is holding two soldiers, an Israeli military spokesman said.

OUTSIDE NILIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers fired teargas and stun grenades on Monday to stifle protests against a West Bank barrier, declared illegal by the World Court four years ago this week.

TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgian officials said six explosions struck on both sides of a de facto border between Georgia and its breakaway Abkhazia region on Sunday, killing one person.

TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - World leaders head into the second day of the annual G8 summit preoccupied by soaring food and oil prices and deeply divided over how to tackle climate change.

BEIJING (Reuters) - With a month remaining until the opening ceremony of one of the most scrutinized Olympic Games in history, the time has come for Beijing to deliver on seven years of promises and billions of dollars spent.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice travels to Europe on Monday to sign a missile defense agreement in Prague and will make stops in Sofia and Tbilisi, the State Department said on Sunday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's stance on future talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama rests on how he answers demands not to disrupt next month's Beijing Olympics, an official said, highlighting intense anxieties about the Games.

DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has cancelled almost $7 billion of debt including interest and arrears payments owed by Baghdad, becoming the first Gulf Arab country to forgive all of Iraq's debt.

TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - A British government report on food policy to be published on Monday says the link between demand for biofuels and rising world food prices needs to be more closely examined.