PARIS, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - Paris city hall will unfurl a giant banner in defence of human rights when the Olympic flame arrives in the French capital Monday ahead of the summer Games in China, Mayor Bertrand Delanoe said.

'There will be a banner saying 'Paris defends human rights everywhere in the world' on city hall,' Delanoe told a press conference on Wednesday.

BEIJING, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - China has accused Muslims in the nation's northwest of trying to start a rebellion, following what an exile group said Wednesday were peaceful protests against injustices under Chinese rule.

BEIJING, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - China has accused Muslims in the nation's northwest of trying to start a rebellion, following what an exile group said Wednesday were peaceful protests against injustices under Chinese rule.

BUCHAREST, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush warned Wednesday that 'innocent civilians will pay the price' if NATO fails to send more troops to Afghanistan to snuff out 'terrorists' still lurking there.

COLOMBO, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - At least 13 Tamil Tiger rebels and one government soldier have been killed in fresh fighting in Sri Lanka's north, the defence ministry said Wednesday.

ANKARA, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - Turkish troops killed seven rebels, bringing to 16 the number of Kurdistan Workers' Party members killed in a sweep that began Monday near the border with Iraq, the general staff said Wednesday in a statement posted on its website.

On Tuesday, the army said the fighting in the mountains of Sirnak province left three soldiers dead and five wounded.

BEIJING, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - China has accused Muslim extremists in the nation's northwest of trying to start a rebellion, an incident that an exile group said Wednesday was mainly a women's protest against Chinese rule.

YANGON, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - An armed group raided a Buddhist shrine in eastern Myanmar and stole the corpse of a revered monk whose body had been displayed as a holy relic in a glass coffin, an official said Wednesday.

SRINAGAR, India, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - Indian troops have dealt a fresh blow to Kashmir's main rebel group by killing two of its top commanders during a gun battle that also left a soldier and a civilian dead, police said Wednesday.

The fighting erupted late Tuesday when Indian troops, backed by counter-insurgency police, raided a hide-out near the summer capital Srinagar.

BUCHAREST, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Wednesday called on NATO allies to send more troops to Afghanistan and make the mission there a top priority.