Cambodia
BANGKOK, Thailand - Cambodian opposition politician Sam Rainsy announced Friday night in Bangkok that his party is withdrawing from the campaign for next month's general election because it would not be free and fair.
Argentina
BUENOS AIRES - Argentina President Carlos Menem will depart on a seven-day visit to Russia, the Ukraine and Armenia next week, the government said Friday.
Suriname
PARAMARIBO - Suriname has agreed to allow U.S. forces to pursue drug smuggling suspects into its territorial waters, joining several other Caribbean countries in the U.S. effort to strengthen its drug interdiction efforts.
Canada
MONTREAL - Truckers protesting new regulations partially blocked the main highway linking Canada's two biggest cities Friday, causing long delays for hundreds of motorists.
Cuba
HAVANA - The Ukraine government thanked Cuba Friday for treating thousands of its children affected by radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Colombia
BOGOTA - A drug-running pilot who helped convict former Panamanian strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega in a U.S. court has been shot and killed in Colombia's Caribbean port of Barranquilla, authorities said Friday.
Brazil
BRASILIA - Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Car-doso signed a government decree Friday creating the post for the country's first central anti-drug chief.
United Nations
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri said Friday that Israel was a military state, with a military industry, whose vocation was war.
Mexico
MORELIA - Mexican lawmakers, bristling over perceived U.S. meddling in Mexican affairs, said they would press for mutual respect at a weekend meeting with their American counterparts.
Afghanistan
KABUL - Four doctors, their faces hidden behind surgical masks, amputated the right hand and left foot of a convicted thief Friday before a crowd of about 2,000 people.
Belarus
MINSK - Belarus made good Friday on its threat to cut water and power to a diplomatic compound in a push to evict ambassadors from the United States, France, Germany and other nations.
Britain
NEWARK - The worst of Britain's "mad cow" crisis looks like it's over, but that brings little joy to the cattlemen at the Newark livestock auction. They see no quick end to their nightmare.
LONDON - As his 16th birthday approaches, Prince William feels some of the attention he is getting from Britain's press is too personal. Friday, Buckingham Palace said William and a tabloid newspaper had "amicably resolved" his first complaint against the media.
Indonesia
JAKARTA - Indonesia and the International Monetary Fund have agreed on a revised annual budget for the economically shattered nation, a Cabinet minister said Friday, increasing the chances of new IMF loans.
Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR - Forced to address discontent in the ruling party over his economic stewardship, Malaysia's prime minister on Friday railed against foreign powers he accused of trying to topple him and ruin the country.