BOGOTA, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Colombia's constitutional court said Wednesday that a five-year-old child born with both female and male sexual organs can choose its own gender or maintain both, overruling the parents who wanted to make the child a boy.

PARIS, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Injuries to Chelsea's Alex and Julio Baptista of Roma have forced Brazil coach Dunga into late call-ups ahead of two World Cup qualifiers that should herald the return of star midfielder Kaka.

Dunga has called up Hamburg defender Silva and Porto Alegre winger Alex as replacements for the injured pair.

ASUNCION, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - Injured Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz will miss Paraguay's forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Peru, the country's football federation said on Monday.

The 27-year-old Santa Cruz is suffering from a muscle pull from Saturday's 2-0 home defeat to Premiership champions Manchester United, keeping him out of action for three weeks.

ROME, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - Inter Milan defender Nelson Rivas faces surgery this week on the right knee injury he picked up in Saturday's Serie A game against Bologna.

Inter, announcing the news Monday, gave no indication as to how long the 25-year-old Colombian would be sidelined.

MADRID, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - Greenpeace activists boarded a cargo ship carrying Colombian coal at a port in northern Spain on Monday in protest at Spain's reliance on the highly polluting energy source.

MADRID, Oct 5, 2008 (AFP) - Police have dismantled three printing centres in Colombia which made counterfeit US dollars, euros and Colombian pesos and arrested five suspects, Spanish police who took part in the operation said Sunday.

BOGOTA, Oct 3, 2008 (AFP) - A month-long strike by judges seeking higher wages has stranded scores of foreign families who cannot leave Colombia with their newly adopted children without court approval, officials said Friday.

BOGOTA, Sept 28, 2008 (AFP) - Colombian rebel chief Alfonso Cano has written to his followers calling for more attacks in their war against the Bogota government as well as cultivating 'friends and aides' of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, published reports said Sunday.

BOGOTA, Sept 24, 2008 (AFP) - Colombia has signed contracts with nine oil companies worth 500 billion dollars to explore for oil near the border with Venezuela, the National Oil and Gas Agency announced Wednesday.

BOGOTA, Sept 25, 2008 (AFP) - A former chief of prosecutors who is a brother of Colombia's Justice Minister Fabio Valencia, Guillermo Leon Valencia, was arrested Thursday for alleged ties to drug traffickers, authorities said.

Valencia was arrested in Medellin, where he lives, after a Supreme Court-appointed prosecutor issued an arrest warrant.

NEW YORK, Sept 24, 2008 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush, meeting with Western Hemisphere leaders, called Wednesday for US lawmakers to approve trade pacts with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea 'as soon as possible.'

BOGOTA, Sept 22, 2008 (AFP) - Former Colombian guerrilla hostage Ingrid Betancourt in an interview Monday ruled out any return to politics in her country, citing threats to her safety.

'I have no intention of returning to politics in Colombia,' the French-Colombian told Colombian radio Caracol.

SANAA, Sept 19, 2008 (AFP) - Tribesmen kidnapped two Colombian engineers near a gas pipeline in eastern Yemen on Friday, a spokesman for the national Yemen gas company told AFP.

'The two men were abducted at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT), some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the gas pipeline' where the pair worked, he said.

COPENHAGEN, Sept 18, 2008 (AFP) - A Danish appeals court on Thursday convicted six Danes of selling T-shirts in aid of Colombian and Palestinian extremist groups, while one person was acquitted.

Two of the defendants were sentenced to six months behind bars, while the Copenhagen Appeals Court handed four others suspended sentences of between two and four months.

BOGOTA, Sept 18, 2008 (AFP) - President Alvaro Uribe said he had a 'constructive' and wide-ranging phone conversation with Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama Thursday, on the eve of the Colombian leader's trip to Washington.

BOGOTA, Sept 16, 2008 (AFP) - Colombia's football federation announced the sacking of national football coach, Jorge Luis Pinto, Tuesday following the team's poor results in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Pinto came in for fierce criticism after two defeats, a 1-0 loss at home to Uruguay and then a 4-0 reverse against Chile in Santiago.

BOGOTA, Sept 16, 2008 (AFP) - A major oilfield has been discovered in the Colombian interior, the country's Energy Minister Hernan Martinez said on Tuesday.

The discovery may prove to be 'the most important oil discovery found in the country in the last decade,' Martinez told radio Caracol.

WASHINGTON, September 13, 2008 (AFP) - A strong earthquake measuring 5.7 hit a western montain region of Colombia early Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, the US government announced.

BOGOTA, September 12, 2008 (AFP) - Thieves stole a 'priceless' engraving by Spanish master Francisco de Goya from a temporary exhibition in Colombia, a museum spokesman said Friday.

The 'Tristes Presentimientos' or 'Sad Feelings' engraving dealt with was one of 80 by the Spanish artist in a temporary exhibition on war in Bogota's Gilberto Alzate Avendano museum.

WASHINGTON, September 12, 2008 (AFP) - The US Treasury announced Friday it was freezing any US assets of two senior Venezuelan officials and a former official after accusing them of aiding Colombian rebels involved in drug trafficking.

WASHINGTON, September 12, 2008 (AFP) - The US Treasury announced Friday it was freezing any US assets of two senior Venezuelan officials and a former official after accusing them of aiding Colombian rebels involved in drug trafficking.

WASHINGTON, September 12, 2008 (AFP) - The US Treasury announced Friday it was imposing sanctions on two senior Venezuelan officials and one former official after accusing them of aiding Colombian rebels involved in drug trafficking.

UNITED NATIONS, September 9, 2008 (AFP) - Former Colombian guerrilla hostage Ingrid Betancourt on Tuesday pleaded with world leaders to always place the lives of hostages above all other considerations when dealing with terrorists.

MANCHESTER, September 7, 2008 (AFP) - Amir Khan is confident he can recover from his first professional defeat and still become world lightweight champion.

The English boxer was knocked out within a minute after twice being sent to the canvas by Colombian Breidis Prescott at the MEN Arena in Manchester on Saturday.

MANCHESTER, September 6, 2008 (AFP) - British boxer Amir Khan lost his unbeaten record in a shock first round knockout defeat as Breidis Prescott claimed the WBO Intercontinental lightweight title here on Saturday.

The little-known Colombian sent Khan to the canvas before following up and knocking out the Englishman to win the World Boxing Organisation belt at the MEN Arena.

MADRID, September 5, 2008 (AFP) - Spanish police said Friday they detained a top Colombian drug trafficker who had been indicted in the United States for being a major supplier of cocaine to the United States during the 1990s.

Edgar Guillermo Vallejo Guarin, 47, was arrested at a luxury hotel in an operation carried out with the US Drug Enforcement Agency, police said in a statement.

VIENNA, September 5, 2008 (AFP) - Former Colombian guerrilla hostage Ingrid Betancourt was named woman of the year Friday by the World Awards Association, headed by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

MADRID, September 5, 2008 (AFP) - Spanish police said Friday they had detained a top Colombian drug trafficker, Edgar Guillermo Vallejo Guarin, who was wanted in the United States and several other countries.

WASHINGTON, September 5, 2008 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush will welcome Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on September 20, a chance to push US lawmakers anew to pass a bilateral free trade pact, the White House said Friday.

COPENHAGEN, September 3, 2008 (AFP) - Seven Danes accused of supporting 'terrorist' groups by selling T-shirts in aid of Colombian and Palestinian extremists went back on trial Wednesday in a Copenhagen appeals court.

ROME, September 2, 2008 (AFP) - Franco-Colombian former hostage Ingrid Betancourt, freed from captivity in the Colombian jungle two months ago, on Tuesday met Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, a government statement said.

ROME, September 2, 2008 (AFP) - Franco-Colombian former hostage Ingrid Betancourt, freed from captivity in the Colombian jungle two months ago, on Tuesday met Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, a government statement said.

ROME, September 1, 2008 (AFP) - Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt said her private audience with the pope Monday, in which she recounted her harrowing confinement in Colombia, was 'extraordinary' and a dream come true.

BOGOTA, September 1, 2008 (AFP) - A car bomb exploded early Monday in Colombia's third largest city Cali, killing four people and wounding at least 12 in one of the deadliest urban attacks this year, authorities said.

VATICAN CITY, August 31, 2008 (AFP) - Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt arrived in Rome with her family Sunday evening ahead of a meeting with the pope, Italian media reported.

Betancourt, who is on a four-day trip to Italy, will receive an audience with Pope Benedict XVI Monday at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, outside Rome.

MADRID, August 30, 2008 (AFP) - A paramedic who was rescued by her co-workers after she stumbled from the wreckage of the Spanair jet that crashed in Madrid 10 days ago, killing 154 people, left hospital on Saturday.

THE HAGUE, August 29, 2008 (AFP) - Colombian authorities have confiscated fake bank notes with a face value of 11 million euros, the biggest-ever such seizure outside Europe, policing agency Europol said Friday.