Nigeria
LAGOS — Nigerian recruited extra firefighters to try to extinguish a gasoline pipeline blaze that killed more than 60 people near Lagos.
Moldova
CHISINAU — Brief scuffles and shouting matches erupted as the parliament of this impoverished former Soviet republic tried to choose between a Communist official and an independent who favors close ties to Europe as its president. Voting was suspended briefly after communist legislators elbowed two noncommunist lawmakers. Balloting resumed and results were expected later.
Ivory Coast
ABIDJAN — The Supreme Court has barred Ivory Coast's main opposition leader from running in this month's legislative elections, citing questions about his citizenship, state radio announced. The court said Alassane Dramane Ouattara is ineligible for the Dec. 10 parliamentary ballot because the authenticity of his nationality documents is in doubt, the radio report said. It gave no further details.
Myanmar
YANGON — Myanmar's military government said it had lifted restrictions on six opposition members, but pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi remained confined to her residence after more than two months of de facto house arrest.
Japan
TOKYO — The secretary-general of Japan's ruling party resigned, a move that could further undermine the already shaky administration of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. Hiromu Nonaka, the Liberal Democratic Party's second-in-command, submitted his resignation to Mori, saying he was stepping down because he was "tired and would like to rest."
TOKYO — North Korea said it had refused a Japanese proposal to normalize relations based on an economic plan similar to that used years before to normalize relations with the South.
Georgia
TBILISI — The car used to kidnap two Spanish businessmen in Georgia has been found in a mountainous region with its windshield smashed and its interior stained with blood, a prosecutor said.
Laos
VIENTIANE — The government blamed exiled royalists for a wave of mysterious bombings this year as the country prepared to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Communist revolution that overthrew the monarchy.
India
SRINAGAR — A unilateral cease-fire in India-controlled Kashmir has brought a lull in the fighting but no sign of negotiations to end the province's bloody 11-year-old insurgency.
Philippines
MANILA — President Joseph Estrada denied all accusations against him in a brief response to the impeachment charges on which he will face trial next week. Estrada is accused of bribery, graft, corruption, betrayal of the public trust and violation of the constitution.
Jordan
AMMAN — A plane of Jordan's national airline Royal Jordanian returned to Amman from Baghdad on Friday, ferrying passengers on the round trip for the first time in 10 years.
Israel
JERUSALEM — A former top aide to assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in an international arms deal. Shimon Sheves, who was Rabin's chief of staff, served as a go-between to sell Israeli weapons to a country identified in media reports as Taiwan.
Thailand
CHIANG MAI — A British hotelier cleared of charges in the rape and murder of a young Welsh woman has been freed after 2 1/2 months in Thai custody. Andrew Gill, 32, was released late Thursday night.
Russia
MOSCOW — A Russian Proton rocket has successfully delivered a U.S. commercial satellite into orbit, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces said.