INDONESIA
JAKARTA -- The government announced that parliamentary elections will be held next June 7 and that the nation's highest legislative assembly will elect a new president on Aug. 29 but dropped plans to form an independent panel to investigate former President Suharto.ROMANIA
BUCHAREST -- Cleopa, the charismatic Romanian monk persecuted by communists and admired by pilgrims, died at age 87 in his secluded wilderness monastery, a church official announced.
NIGERIA
LAGOS -- Two former Cabinet ministers and a family member of ex-dictator Gen. Sani Abacha defrauded Nigeria of about $2 billion by buying and reselling debt payments on a Russian-built steel plant, officials said.
UGANDA
KAMPALA -- A thoroughfare outside the U.S. Embassy reopened Thursday, nearly four months after it was closed in response to the Aug. 7 bombings of American embassies in neighboring Tanzania and Kenya that killed 224 people.
CAMBODIA
PHNOM PENH -- Any trial of surviving Khmer Rouge leaders implicated in genocide and other crimes against humanity should take place on Cambodian soil, Prime Minister Hun Sen said.
BURUNDI
BUJUMBURA -- Rebels killed more than 20 fellow Hutus who had sought refuge in a camp, accusing them of collaborating with the Tutsi-led army, a military spokesman said.
NORTHERN IRELAND
BELFAST -- Late-night negotiations led by Prime Minister Tony Blair have narrowed the gap between Protestant and Catholic leaders over how to make Northern Ireland's peace accord work, both sides said.
GEORGIA
TBILISI -- Vandals knocked over and shattered more than 50 gravestones at a Jewish cemetery here, authorities said.
THAILAND
BANGKOK -- The opposition said it will impeach Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai for allegedly violating the new constitution by signing letters of intent to the International Monetary Fund without consulting parliament.
GRENADA
ST. GEORGE'S -- The governor general has dissolved Parliament, paving the way for early elections amid charges of nepotism and corruption in Prime Minister Keith Mitchell's government.
MEXICO
MEXICO CITY -- Greenpeace has filed a criminal complaint against Mexico's oil monopoly Pemex, accusing it of dumping thousands of gallons of toxic waste in wetlands along Mexico's gulf coast.
IRAQ
BAGHDAD -- The government was reported to have approved the importation of the anti-impotence pill Viagra via the private sector.
INDIA
NEW DELHI -- Hindu nationalists smashed windows and marquees at a movie theater that was showing a film with lesbian scenes and themes challenging Indian family traditions.
COSTA RICA
SAN JOSE -- Inmates rioted in the nation's main prison after guards killed a prisoner and wounded six others during an escape attempt.
FRANCE
PARIS -- Dozens of people were detained and 3,000 child pornography videos were seized in a nationwide sweep as police tried to crack a pedophilia network.