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COLOMBO (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, was closed on Wednesday after a "suspicious powder" was found in the premises, the embassy said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Major gaps remain in global trade talks, the Bush administration said on Wednesday as ministers prepared to come together next month in a bid to clinch a long-awaited multilateral trade agreement.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Passengers were being evacuated from a train on Moscow's metro underground railway system on Wednesday after a carriage caught fire, RIA news agency reported.

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has detained 520 suspected al Qaeda-linked militants since January, accusing some of them of planning attacks against an oil installation in the kingdom, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - About 2.5 million Nepalis need immediate food assistance and 3.9 million others are at risk of becoming food insecure because of rising prices, the United Nations food agency said on Wednesday.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Western powers will continue a twin track policy of sanctions and diplomacy towards Iran over its nuclear program, the EU's top diplomat said on Wednesday, despite Tehran's warnings it could backfire.

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Turkmen security forces detained and tortured a commentator for a U.S.-backed radio station after he had refused to stop working for the broadcaster, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) said.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and an interpreter in a region of northern Iraq where U.S. and Iraqi forces are battling al Qaeda, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain warned Iran on Wednesday it will suffer growing economic and political isolation if it makes the "wrong choice" and fails to comply with United Nations resolutions on curbing its nuclear program.

KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces killed up to 35 Taliban insurgents after the militants attacked two towns in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border overnight, a police chief said on Wednesday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and an interpreter in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia seeks a "serious" pact with the European Union reaffirming it as part of Europe, President Dmitry Medvedev told Reuters ahead of a Russia-EU summit in Siberia.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert averted a split in Israel's restive coalition on Wednesday by striking a deal with his biggest partner, the Labour party, that stopped it backing a bill to dissolve parliament.

COSTA MESA, California (Reuters) - Only World War III would prompt Republican presidential candidate John McCain to bring back the military draft, McCain said on Tuesday.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A terrorism alert system installed in thousands of merchant ships after the September 11, 2001 attacks is flawed because it does not immediately notify local security authorities of an attack, said a report on the system.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's government and its communist allies agreed on Wednesday to meet once again to break a deadlock over a civilian nuclear deal with the United States, effectively delaying any possible threat of snap elections.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani Taliban militants murdered 22 rivals captured this week when they seized a northwestern town, a government official and residents said on Wednesday.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Maori clad in traditional cloaks chanted and sang on Tuesday as the New Zealand government paid hundreds of millions of dollars to settle century old grievances.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico agreed on Tuesday to extradite drug lord Benjamin Arellano Felix to the United States as suspected drug hitmen killed another six people in a border city in the latest round of a killing spree.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea will allow the resumption of U.S. beef imports starting Thursday, the farm ministry said, implementing an unpopular deal that sparked street protests and caused a crisis for the government.