NEPAL
KATMANDU -- A 15-year-old Nepali left for the Mount Everest region Saturday, hoping to become the youngest person to scale the world's highest mountain.
FRANCE
CHAMONIX -- A thick curtain of toxic fumes and intense heat hampered the search Saturday for victims of the truck fire that turned the Mont Blanc tunnel into a death chamber.
TURKEY
ISTANBUL -- A young woman set off hand grenades strapped to her body and stuffed in her backpack when stopped by police in Istanbul's main square Saturday, killing herself and wounding 10 others.
RUSSIA
MOSCOW -- International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Michel Camdessus began fresh talks with Russian officials on Saturday as the ex-Soviet giant tries to unlock more IMF credits and overcome its latest crisis.
CHINA
BEIJING -- China blasted the United States on Saturday for deciding to sponsor a U.N. resolution criticizing the country's human rights record and demanded Washington reverse the move.
JAPAN
TOKYO -- North Korea mocked Japanese alarms over intruding mystery ships on Saturday, saying Tokyo had mounted a crude drama at sea to fake its case for bigger armed forces.
TOKYO -- A U.S. serviceman's offer to donate his brain-dead daughter's organs for transplants was rejected because the girl did not carry a donor card, Japanese news reports said Saturday.
MYANMAR
LONDON -- Michael Aris, the British academic husband of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, died of prostate cancer in a British hospital on Saturday, his 53rd birthday.
ITALY
ROME -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on Saturday asked Pope John Paul II to "appeal to the faithful . . . and save the lives of millions of lambs" that are slaughtered every Easter in Italy. Roast baby lamb accompanied by potatoes and artichokes or asparagus is a traditional Easter meal in Italy, along with a dove-shaped cake.
MEXICO
MEXICO CITY -- Mexicans live longer and have fewer children than they did a quarter century ago, said the National Population Council (Conapo) on Saturday.
MEXICO CITY -- Police have uncovered an international auto theft ring that stole luxury cars in Mexico and sold them in France, Mexican prosecutors and Interpol said Saturday.
ZIMBABWE
HARARE -- President Robert Mugabe lashed out at whites and declared the government would relaunch efforts to seize 520 white-owned farms in Zimbabwe and give the land to blacks, state media reported Saturday.
INDIA
GAUHATI -- Separatist guerrillas shot dead the brother of a state Cabinet minister in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, police said Saturday. It was the second straight day of attacks on relatives of regional officials.
SOUTH KOREA
SEOUL -- Some 10,000 workers marched through downtown Seoul on Saturday, protesting plans by large companies to lay off workers amid a severe economic recession.
MALAYSIA
KUALA LUMPUR -- The death toll from a virus epidemic in Malaysia has reached 63, a national news agency said Saturday.