Pakistan
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Pakistan's military leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf indicated that he may spare the life of former Prime Minister Nawas Sharif, who is accused of trying to kill Musharraf during a coup in Pakistan last fall.
India
CALCUTTA -- At least 17 people died after drinking tainted liquor in India's West Bengal state, a minister said.
Russia
MOSCOW -- Police found and defused a bomb at Moscow's main domestic airport Thursday, officials said.
China
BEIJING -- Chinese and European Union trade negotiators ended a third day of grueling talks without an agreement, but the EU sounded positive over the prospects for a deal on China's bid to enter the World Trade Organization.
Portugal
LISBON -- The Socialist government faced protests after it decreed sharp rises in state-regulated gasoline prices, with unions warning public sector wage deals would have to be reviewed.
Taiwan
TAIPEI -- The nation's two largest parties agreed to change the parliamentary structure by downsizing the National Assembly in a move that would largely expand the power of the lawmaking body, party officials said.
Indonesia
JAKARTA -- Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters near former president Suharto's residence after he failed to show up for questioning in connection with a corruption scandal. Several students were injured and scores arrested after 200 demonstrators threw stones at riot police blocking off streets leading to Suharto's house in central Jakarta.
Israel
JERUSALEM -- Palestinians staged marches in towns in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in some cases clashing with Israeli troops, to protest the confiscation of Arab-owned land and Jewish settlement expansion.
Austria
ZELL AM SEE -- Thick fog and a mixture of rain and snow grounded helicopters, preventing rescuers from continuing the search for a snowboarder reported missing in a deadly avalanche that killed at least 11 people on Tuesday.
Sweden
STOCKHOLM -- A retired Swedish naval officer said he had given maps of coastal minefields to NATO, reinforcing suspicions of Cold War cooperation between neutral Sweden and the alliance.
Cambodia
SIHANOUKVILLE -- Some 100 Cambodians, including former Khmer Rouge soldiers, called for justice for victims of the 1970s "killing fields" regime but said only top leaders of the radical group should be tried.
Australia
SYDNEY -- A team of U.N. investigators will examine possible human rights abuses in migrant detention centers in Australia during a visit starting in May, a U.N. spokesman said.
England
LONDON -- Britain is willing to support the United States in the first stage of its $50 billion national missile protective shield despite Cabinet fears of anti-nuclear protests, the Guardian newspaper reported.
Vietnam
HANOI -- Communist Vietnam has received 530,000 foreign visitors so far this year, a jump of 14 percent over the first quarter of 1999, official media reported.
South Korea
SEOUL -- A tight cordon was in force around seven farms north of Seoul following the suspected outbreak of a deadly livestock disease there last week.
Iran
TEHRAN -- Opposition leader Ismail Khan, who escaped from an Afghan prison, has joined his family in Iran, an Afghan dissident and Iran's official news agency said.