Zimbabwe
HARARE - The Zimbabwean government published a rule Friday compelling courts to jail for a month or fine people convicted of "showing disrespect" to the southern African state's national anthem.
Bosnia
SARAJEVO - U.N. police monitors said on Friday they were trying to secure the release of a former Bosnian Croat militia officer who was arrested by Serb police during a routine traffic check.
Cuba
HAVANA - Cuba and Greece signed Friday an accord to set up a joint commission on cooperation in economic, scientific and technical areas, saying the agreement should help foster economic ties between the two countries.
Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE - The Fanmi Lavalas Party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide won two Senate seats outright in elections held in Haiti last month, according to official results announced Friday.
Sudan
KHARTOUM - A policeman wants to appeal a court ruling that his right eye be removed because he caused another man to lose an eye.
Italy
BRINDISI - Italian officials set off Friday to recover the wreckage of a boat that sank March 28 while bringing desperate Albanians across the Adriatic Sea.
Egypt
CAIRO - A Kurdish leader in Egypt warned Friday that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein may be preparing to attack Kurds on the pretext that they are interfering with water supplies in Iraq.
Russia
MOSCOW - Five thousand soldiers, sailors and cadets marched across Red Square on Friday as part of a nostalgic national celebration of Russia's 52-year-old military victory over the Nazis in World War II.
Romania
BUCHAREST - A Jewish leader praised the Romanian president Friday for being the first to publicly acknowledge the country's complicity in the persecution and killing of Jews in the Holocaust.
Lebanon
BEIRUT - On the eve of the pope's visit, one of the most powerful Christian warlords of Lebanon's civil war was convicted and sentenced to life in prison Friday for trying to assassinate the former defense minister.
Rwanda
KIGALI - A prison guard shot and killed 10 genocide suspects and wounded others trying to escape from prison in southern Rwanda, the government news agency said Friday.
France
PERPIGNAN - French authorities opened an investigation Friday into why documents on Jews deported to Nazi death camps during World War II were abandoned in a public garbage dump.
Nigeria
LAGOS - A treason trial in which several dissidents could face the death penalty began Friday in the absence of many of the defendants. The trial formally began Friday and adjourned until Tuesday, when the court may debate whether to continue the proceedings.