LAGOS, Oct 16, 2007 (AFP) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left Nigeria Tuesday at the end of a three-day visit, the first by an Indian premier to the oil-rich west African country in 45 years, state media reported.

KABUL, Oct 16, 2007 (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is to visit Britain and meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Queen and Prince Charles, a presidential spokesman said Tuesday.

The trip would be "in the near future," Homayun Hamidzada told reporters. Karzai's movements are often kept under wraps for security reasons.

It will be his first meeting with Brown, Hamidzada said, and the main purpose "strengthening bilateral relations."

BELGRADE, Oct 16, 2007 (AFP) - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica lashed out at the United States on Tuesday for scuppering efforts at reaching a compromise on the future status of Kosovo.

"The purpose of the daily declarations by US officials (that) they have the goal of unilaterally recognising Kosovo's independence is to prevent at all costs Kosovo Albanians from accepting a compromise," Kostunica said in a statement.

EL-ARISH, Egypt, Oct 16, 2007 (AFP) - Egyptian police have arrested three Palestinians as they emerged from a tunnel used to smuggle contraband into the Gaza Strip, a security source said on Tuesday.

The three men in their early 20s were being questioned after their arrest overnight south of the Egypt-Gaza border town of Rafah at a tunnel that was used to smuggle weapons into Gaza, the source said.

The arrests came the day after Egypt discovered another tunnel in the same area as well as dozens of bags of ammunition and a large amount of heroin.

MADRID, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - A Spanish court ruled Sunday that most of the leadership of the banned Basque separatist party Batasuna arrested last week over alleged links to ETA should be held in jail, a court spokesman announced.

Judge Baltasar Garzon followed the recommendation of prosecutors, who had asked that most of the 19 Batasuna leaders arrested be detained while the investigation into terrorism-related charges continued.

Among those detained was Joseba Permach, one of Batasuna's main spokesmen, and Juan Jose Petrokorena, who handles the movement's communications strategy.

BUCHAREST, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - Romanian prosecutors have detained a former agriculture minister for 24 hours as part of a graft investigation, the national anti-corruption prosecutor's office (DNA) said Sunday.

Ioan Muresan was accused of having "given a high official around 15,500 euros (22,000 dollars) on behalf of a businessman who wanted, in return, preferential treatment in a tender process by public institutions", it said.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Faced with mounting world outrage over violence in Myanmar, the UN Security Council was to meet Monday under pressure to quickly condemn the military regime for crushing pro-democracy protests.

The 15-member body was to weigh a draft statement that would condemn "the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations" by Myanmar's rulers, urge them to "cease repressive measures" and release detainees as well as all political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

VILNIUS, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - A former Lithuanian political star Viktor Uspaskich looked poised for a comeback Sunday thanks to a ballot box success, just days after returning from hiding in Russia to face fraud investigators.

The populist Uspaskich appeared to have garnered enough support in a parliamentary by-election to win a place in the second, run-off round, according to a partial count of votes.

SAN JOSE, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of Costa Ricans voted Sunday on whether to accept or reject a free-trade agreement with the United States, that would open local markets to US products but also boost Costa Rican exports to the United States.

Public opinion surveys indicating the measure was headed for defeat.

The Central American Free Trade Agreement, which also includes Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, will not be re-negotiated if Costa Rica rejects the measure, US officials said.

VALLEGRANDE, Bolivia, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - Latin American dictators of the 1960s coordinated efforts in their attempt to track down Cuban-Argentine Marxist guerrilla Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, killed by Bolivian forces in 1967, according to previously secret documents a researcher showed AFP.

The cooperation pre-dates Operation Condor, the secret plan hatched by South American dictators in the 1970s to eliminate their political opponents in the region.

WASHINGTON, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - US Defense secretary Robert Gates has concluded his tour of Latin America, during which he tried to give US military assistance programs in the region a more human face.

Gates is scheduled to travel to Moscow this coming week, where he and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will have talks with their Russian counterparts on missile defense and other issues.

Rice will then travel to the Middle East.

LONDON, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - The British government gave "false and inflated expectations" of what could be achieved by its military presence in Iraq, its top military adviser said in an interview published Monday.

Speaking to The Times, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the chief of the defence staff, acknowledged that only Iraqis could make Basra, in the south of the country, into a stable, secure and prosperous city.

LONDON, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - The US-led "war on terror" has been a "disaster" and Washington and its allies must change their policy in Iraq and Afghanistan to defeat Al-Qaeda, an independent global security think tank said Monday.

The Oxford Research Group (ORG) said in a report that Western strategy since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States had failed to extinguish the threat from Islamist extremism and even fuelled it.

BEIJING, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Communist China's founding father Mao Zedong was often referred to as the Great Helmsman.
That leaves some observers wondering what they should call Hu Jintao since, during his five years in power, China has sometimes resembled a rudderless ship.

"Hu Jintao's style tends to be management of crises rather than an overall political vision for the country," said Russell Leigh Moses, dean of the Beijing Centre for Chinese Studies, a private think tank.

BAMAKO, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure on Friday named his close aide Modibo Sidibe as prime minister after the previous premier resigned.

Sidibe is a 55-year-old jurist by training who has served as Toure's cabinet secretary and replaces Ousmane Issoufi Maiga, in power since 2004, who tendered his resignation on Thursday.

The nomination was announced in a presidential statement.

A coalition headed by Toure swept the July legislative elections in the west African country, which is one the world's poorest nations.

HELSINKI, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - Finnish Environment Minister Paula Lehtomaeki walked out of her office Friday to start a six-month maternity leave-of-absence, the government announced.

Lehtomaeki, 34, has been in her job for just over six months, since March 18 elections. She is to replaced in the interim by a male MP colleague, Kimmo Tiilikainen.

Lehtomaeki, who is deputy leader of the Centre party that forms part of the ruling coalition, had already taken maternity leave once before, two years ago, for her first child. Back then, she held the trade portfolio.

ISLAMABAD, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Friday hailed a Supreme Court ruling that Musharraf can stand for re-election next week while remaining army chief.

'Justice triumphs. The president respects and honours the judgment of the supreme court, as always,' Musharraf's spokesman, Major General Rashid Qureshi, told AFP.

BAMAKO, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - Mali's Prime Minister Ousmane Issoufi Maiga, in power since 2004, tendered his resignation to head of state Amadou Toumani Toure, the presidency announced Thursday.

'The President of the Republic today met with prime minister Ousmane Issoufi Maiga, who presented his resignation to the head of state which was accepted,' according to a statement from the office of the president.

MOSCOW, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - In many countries, it wouldn't have a whiff of revolution about it, but when President Vladimir Putin named a pair of women to the new Russian government this week, the country sat up and took notice.

Minister of Economic Development Elvira Nabiullina, 43, and Minister of Health and Social Development Tatyana Golikova, 41, have created what one newspaper called a 'mini-sensation' in the country's overwhelmingly male-dominated political scene.

LONDON, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - Somalia was named and shamed Tuesday as the worst-governed country in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a survey of political performance across the continent.

Here are the top 10 and bottom 10 countries, according to the inaugural annual Ibrahim Index of African Governance, published by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, ranking 48 countries against 58 individual measures.

Top 10

1. Mauritius 86.2

2. Seychelles 83.1

3. Botswana 73.0

4. Cape Verde 72.9

LONDON, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - Somalia was named and shamed Tuesday as the worst-governed country in sub-Saharan Africa in a survey of political performance across the continent.

The inaugural annual Ibrahim Index of African Governance, published by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, ranks 48 countries against 58 individual measures.

The foundation uses those measures to rank countries on five factors: safety and security; rule of law, transparency and corruption; participation and human rights; sustainable economic opportunity; and human development.

LONDON, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - An index of good governance in sub-Saharan Africa out Tuesday showed Mauritius led the way, while Somalia was named and shamed as the worst.

The inaugural annual Ibrahim Index of African Governance, published by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, ranks 48 countries against 58 individual measures.

The foundation uses those measures to rank countries on five factors: safety and security; rule of law, transparency and corruption; participation and human rights; sustainable economic opportunity; and human development.

MOSCOW, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - The following is a list of the new Russian government as announced by President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

Prime Minister: Viktor Zubkov

First Deputy Prime Minster: Sergei Ivanov

First Deputy Prime Minister: Dmitry Medvedev

Deputy Prime Minister: Alexander Zhukov

Deputy Prime Minster: Sergei Naryshkin

Deputy Prime Minster: Alexei Kudrin

Minister of Agriculture: Alexei Gordeyev

Minister of Economic Development and Trade: Elvira Nabiullina

MOSCOW, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has been promoted to the rank of deputy prime minister in the new Russian government while liberal economy minister German Gref has been replaced by Elvira Nabiullina, news agencies reported Monday.

Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, both first deputy prime ministers viewed as frontrunners to succeed President Vladimir Putin in elections next March, have retained their posts in the new government of Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, the reports said.

MANAMA, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) - King Hamad of Bahrain is poised to reshuffle the cabinet in a move that will see the exit of the Gulf state's first ever woman minister, an official said on Sunday.

Health Minister Nada Haffadh, who joined the government in 2004, is likely to be replaced by Faisal al-Hamr, a former dean of the health sciences college, the official told AFP, requesting anonymity.

He said the minor reshuffle could be announced any time before parliament opens its new session on October 17.

INDJIJA, Serbia, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) - Goran Jesic, a young mayor with a reputation for investment coups, will sign a deal this week with an Indian company to build an IT park here, yet another win for this tiny Serbian town already hailed as an 'economic miracle.'

Jesic is confident the project for the technology park will also boost the national economy, improve its war-tarnished image and help persuade young Serbians that they have a future in their own country.

BEIJING, Sept 22, 2007 (AFP) - China will ensure ample food supply in the coming months to keep prices down, state media said Saturday, in yet another reaction to shock inflation figures released recently.

The price of food staples such as wheat, soybean and pork are to be kept at an affordable level by measures such as boosting supply or lowering duties, the Xinhua news agency said, citing several government ministries.

PARIS, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - Eight unions representing French public sector employees said Friday they will announce on October 1 whether they will launch strike action to protest President Nicolas Sarkozy's reform agenda.

Sarkozy this week unveiled plans to overhaul pensions for some public employees and streamline the civil service, the boldest moves yet in his reform drive since taking office four months ago.

'We will take some time to reflect,' said a statement issued Friday following a meeting of union representatives.

OSLO, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - Norwegian cabinet list following a reshuffle announced by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg on Friday:

Prime Minister: Jens Stoltenberg (Labour Party)

Finance Minister: Kristin Halvorsen (Socialist Left)

Municipal and Regional Affairs Minister: Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa (Centre Party)

Foreign Minister: Jonas Gahr Stoere (Labour Party)

Defence Minister: Anne-Grete Stroem-Erichsen (Labour Party)

Environment Minister: Helen Oddveig Bjoernoey (Socialist Left)

PARIS, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday rolled out plans to streamline France's huge public sector, the latest in a series of reforms that have antagonized the country's unions.

A day after launching an overhaul of pension benefits for some public employees, Sarkozy said he would resort to attrition and buy-outs to reduce the civil service, which employs 5.2 million people -- one in five in the French workforce.

MOSCOW, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - Russia's ruling party joined a rare pre-election televised debate Wednesday but such openness was the exception as a Friday deadline approached for the new prime minister to name his government.

For an hour, three parliamentary deputies from the pro-Kremlin United Russia party exchanged detailed, sometimes heated arguments with opponents from the Communist Party.

The debate, carried live on the state satellite news channel Vesti 24, was eye catching in a country where criticism of the authorities is increasingly rare.

PARIS, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - A day after launching an overhaul of pension benefits for public employees, President Nicolas Sarkozy was on Wednesday to announce job cuts in the French civil service as unions mobilised for protest strikes.

Sarkozy, who campaigned on an election pledge to have 'fewer public servants but better paid', was to outline his plan for a leaner public service in a speech delivered at a public management institute in the western city of Nantes.

MOSCOW, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov will not be part of the country's new government because of his family ties to new prime minister Viktor Zubkov, Interfax news agency quoted the latter as saying Tuesday.

'Before the Duma (lower house of parliament) looks into my candidacy I had a talk with the defence minister who is a close relative as you know ... Because of our family ties he handed in his resignation to the president today,' Zubkov said.

PARIS, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy plans a government reshuffle in the new year to include more figures from the political left, sources close to the government said on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the French presidency immediately denied 'any plans for a reshuffle'.

But sources suggested former culture minister Jack Lang, a socialist, could join the right-wing government, which already includes the popular left-winger Bernard Kouchner as foreign minister.

MOSCOW, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - The composition of the new Russian government will be confirmed within two weeks, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov indicated Wednesday.

The previous government resigned on September 12, three months ahead of legislative elections and six months before presidential polls.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed Viktor Zubkov, a little known former financial crimes investigator, as prime minister.

That nomination was approved by the Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, last week.

TIRANA, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - Albania's deputy transportation minister and six other top officials have been arrested on suspected corruption and embezzlement of funds aimed at road reconstruction in the country, police said Tuesday.

'Nikolin Jaka, deputy transportation minister and six other senior officials from the department of road reconstruction were arrested late Monday in Tirana in a police operation,' Deputy Interior Minister Gent Strazimiri told reporters.

TALLINN, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - Estonia's President Toomas Hendrik Ilves on Tuesday reignited the Baltic state's verbal battle with Moscow, likening the World War II Nazi occupation to the Soviet rule that followed it.

'From the Estonian viewpoint, there is no difference between Nazis and Communists. Both acted brutally and repressed Estonians. Neither the Nazis nor the Communists tolerated democracy, and that's a fact any Estonian knows,' Ilves said.

KATHMANDU, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - The UN urged Nepal's Maoists Tuesday to abide by agreements made last year as the former rebels quit the government in protest that their demands for an immediate republic were not met.

As part of last November's peace deal, the UN was invited to monitor around 30,000 people in camps around the country the Maoists say are former fighters, and to assist in crucial polls planned for November.

WASHINGTON, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - Two-thirds of Americans feel President George W. Bush is doing a bad job at running the United States, a survey published Tuesday showed.

But although 67 percent of the 1,000 people polled earlier this month by Harris Interactive gave a negative assessment of Bush's performance, the president's rating has regained some ground from July, when 73 percent said he was not doing a good job.

Bush's performance rating has been in decline since October 2001, when a record 88 percent of Americans gave him good marks for a job well done.