BEIJING, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - China's Communist Party ended its five-yearly Congress on Sunday after amending its charter to include President Hu Jintao's vision for the nation and endorsing leadership changes.

Hu declared the event over in a short ceremony to mark the end of the week-long meeting that gathered more than 2,200 top cadres in Beijing.

BEIJING, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Chinese President Hu Jintao's ended a long speech on Monday outlining the Communist Party's performance and its major priorities for the economy, environment, military, Taiwan and social issues.

Hu spoke for two-and-a-half hours to more than 2,000 delegates at the Great Hall of the People, calling for continued reforms and economic growth, but with greater attention to imbalances caused by China's rapid development.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - China, backed by several Security Council members, offered various amendments Monday to soften a Western-sponsored statement on the bloody military crackdown in Myanmar.

Experts from the council's 15 members huddled behind closed doors for nearly three hours in 'a constructive atmosphere' and the sponsors agreed to come up with a revised text taking into account of the amendments, said a delegate from Ghana, which chairs the council this month.

CARLETONVILLE, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - An operation to rescue 3,200 trapped South African miners finished Thursday as the last group of workers was brought to the surface, mine officials said.

'This is absolutely the last batch of miners to come out,' said Stan Bierschenk, general manager at the Elandsrand mine, southwest of Johannesburg where workers were trapped since their lift broke on Wednesday morning.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) - A UN-sponsored high-level meeting on Afghanistan ended here Sunday with a call on the Kabul government to focus its efforts on promoting good governance and eradicating corruption and drug trafficking.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who co-hosted the meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said participants expressed hope that Afghan leaders 'will continue to focus their efforts on good governance and eradicating corruption, drug trafficking.'

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 22, 2007 (AFP) - Participants at a high-level meeting on Iraq here Saturday backed a bigger UN role in the war-scarred country but UN chief Ban Ki-moon cautioned that this would require greater improvement in the security situation.

Ban and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki spoke of broad support for an expanded UN role at the end of a two-hour meeting that brought together representatives of more than 20 countries and multilateral agencies.

SYDNEY, Sept 9, 2007 (AFP) - The 2007 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit ended Sunday with an appeal for trading nations to revive stalled world commerce talks and a call for action on climate change.

The 15th leaders summit drew to an end after two days of top-level meetings between leaders of 21 Asia Pacific economies, which followed six days of talks between foreign and trade ministers as well as senior officials.

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon, Sept 2, 2007 (AFP) - The Lebanese army took full control on Sunday of a refugee camp where it has besieged Islamist militants for the past three months, an army officer told AFP.

Troops around the camp fired celebratory shots at around 4:00 pm (1330 GMT) to signal their joy at the end of the deadly standoff that has pitted the army against diehard Fatah al-Islam fighters.

'The shots you are hearing are celebratory shots, the camp has fallen,' the officer said.

VIENNA, Aug 31, 2007 (AFP) - Parties to the UN's Kyoto Protocol wound up troubled talks here Friday with broad pledges but weak language to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) still said they were generally satisfied with the outcome of the week-long talks, which were organised by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and preceded a major conference the UNFCCC will hold with its 191 member states in Bali, Indonesia in December.

VIENNA, Aug 31, 2007 (AFP) - Parties to the UN's Kyoto Protocol wound up troubled talks here Friday with broad pledges, but no specific commitments, to deepen cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming.

In a final document issued after hours of wrangling, they ditched a proposed text whereby industrialised countries would consider cutting their emissions by 25-40 percent by 2020 compared to their 1990 levels, diplomats said.

GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) - Talks Thursday between Afghanistan's Taliban and a South Korean delegation trying to free 19 hostages ended with the hardline militants reporting no progress.

The two sides met for three hours in the small town of Ghanzi, south of Kabul, said a Taliban spokesman and a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross that has been facilitating the meetings.

Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP that representatives of his militant movement had demanded the release of eight Taliban prisoners.

GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Aug 11, 2007 (AFP) - Closed door talks between the Taliban and a South Korean delegation to free 21 hostages held for more than three weeks ended Saturday with no announcement of any resolution.

'The talks have ended for the day,' the International Committee of the Red Cross's deputy head of delegation in Afghanistan, Franz Rauchenstein, told AFP.

'The parties have left the meeting room,' he said.

ANKARA, July 22, 2007 (AFP) - Voting ended across Turkey at 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) Sunday in early legislative elections called to end a political crisis sparked by a standoff between secularists and the Islamist-rooted ruling party.

Polls opened at 7:00 am in the east of the country and were followed by stations in the west of the country an hour later.

Voting in the east of the country ended at 4:00 pm and polling stations in the rests of Turkey closed at 5:00 pm.

People still queuing at cut-off time are allowed to cast their ballots.