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BANGKOK (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates delivered a clear message to Thai leaders on Sunday that Washington expected the military to respect its civilian masters and refrain from any attempt to seize power.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Some 89 children detained by Sudan on suspicion of taking part in a rebel assault on the capital Khartoum appear to be in good health and have not been mistreated, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said on Sunday.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Sporadic riots in OPEC member Algeria this year risk triggering wider protests against a political elite slow to turn unprecedented oil wealth into jobs and homes.

KABUL (Reuters) - Scores of Taliban militants were killed last week in an operation involving Afghan and foreign troops in Afghanistan, the interior ministry said on Sunday.

KOREM, Ethiopia (Reuters) - Clutching an intricate bronze cross he used to dig graves during Ethiopia's 1984-1985 famine, priest Alemayu Gede prays drought and high food prices will not make him use it as a shovel again.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's newly-elected parliament picked one of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's potential rivals in next year's presidential election for the influential post of speaker on Sunday, official media reported.

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's military junta on Sunday defended its response to Cyclone Nargis after stinging criticism from the United States, while a U.N. official said food supplies had yet to reach at least 200,000 people.

NASSIRIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - About 500 Australian combat troops pulled out of their base in southern Iraq on Sunday, fulfilling an election promise by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to bring the soldiers home this year.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Iran should open its nuclear installations to international scrutiny to clear suspicions about its nuclear ambitions, French Defense Minister Herve Morin said on Sunday.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel announced plans on Sunday to build hundreds of new homes in an area of the occupied West Bank the Israeli government considers part of Jerusalem, despite U.S. and Palestinian calls to halt settlement expansion.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan put its clocks forward an hour on Sunday while shops have been ordered to close early as the country struggles with an acute electricity shortage.

SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski claimed victory in Sunday's parliamentary election, a vote marred by alleged fraud and shootings that could cloud the country's European Union ambitions.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A Thai opposition group vowed on Sunday to hold more anti-government street rallies in Bangkok in a bid to force the government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to step down.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal was back to work on Sunday as government offices and schools opened for the first time since the Himalayan nation turned into a republic, ending its 239-year-old monarchy.

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar must stop forcing cyclone survivors to return to their shattered homes where they face more misery or even death, rights groups said on Saturday, as a U.S. official accused the junta of being "deaf and dumb" to foreign aid pleas.

Gopal Sharma has been a Reuters correspondent in Nepal since 1995, covering the Maoist insurgency as well as the peace process which led to the fall of the monarchy. In the following story, Gopal recounts the royal family's decline.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea may build more than nine new nuclear power reactors by 2030, raising the ratio of nuclear power use to 55 percent from the current 37 percent, the Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan troops killed a Colombian "subversive" in a border gun battle, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday, an incident that could fuel new tensions between the two countries.

DUJIANGYAN, China (Reuters) - Engineers have completed work to drain a lake formed by last month's earthquake that had threatened to inundate towns downstream and add to the toll of China's deadliest natural disaster in more than 30 years.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Rising petrol prices have ended Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's political honeymoon after 6 months in office, with commentators warning his Labor government may now be vulnerable at the next election.