Australia
SYDNEY — Australian cheerleaders have been banned from baring midriffs by officials of the sport who fear displays of skin may encourage eating disorders. Gymnastics Australia has ordered cheerleading troupes to find new uniforms by the end of the year.
Cambodia
PHNOM PENH — One of the world's most land mine-ridden nations sent a team of soldiers to Sudan Saturday to clear mines laid in a 21-year civil war. Cambodia dispatched 109 troops to join 26 already in place for the nation's first U.N.-peacekeeping mission after its own civil war, which left it riddled with land mines from nearly three decades of conflict.
England
LONDON — A Tunisian accused of raising money to help al-Qaida carry out the Sept. 11 attacks was deported Saturday from Britain to Spain, police said. Hedi Ben Youseff Boudhiba, 46, is accused of being part of a Spanish cell that allegedly supplied false passports and other documents to planners of the 2001 terror attacks.
LONDON — A Briton who was held hostage in Iraq for almost four months said he considered suicide because he thought it might help his fellow captives. "I thought it might help the Canadians, if they got rid of the Brit," said Norman Kember, 74, who was abducted along with two Canadians and an American, Tom Fox, who was later killed. "When you're really depressed you think of suicide but there aren't any means of doing it."
Indonesia
JAKARTA — A passenger train bound for the Indonesian capital crashed into another train stopped at a station early Saturday, killing at least 13 people and injuring more than 25, a railway official said. The trains were carrying more than 1,000 people between them, said a local railway official. Officials were investigating the cause of the accident at Gubuk station, about 275 miles east of the capital, Jakarta.
Italy
ROME — The conservative religious group Opus Dei has asked for a disclaimer on the upcoming film based on the best-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code." Opus Dei, portrayed as a murderous, power-hungry sect in the novel by Dan Brown, wrote in an April 6 letter to Sony Corp. that a disclaimer would show respect to Jesus and to the Catholic Church.
Russia
MOSCOW — Imprisoned Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was slashed in the face by another inmate early Friday, one of his attorneys, Yuri Schmidt, told Echo Moskvy radio Saturday. Prison authorities played down the incident. One official told the Russian news agency Interfax that an inmate "scratched Khodorkovsky's nose" during a quarrel. Khodorkovsky, the founder of the once-mighty Yukos Oil Co., is serving an eight-year sentence for his conviction last year on fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion charges.
MOSCOW — Russia said it has pledged urgent financial assistance to the Hamas-led Palestinian government despite an international boycott. The Russian Foreign Ministry did not say how much money it offered. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "expressed great appreciation" for the pledge, which was conveyed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the ministry said in a statement late Friday.
Sri Lanka
COLOMBO — Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels detonated a mine near a bus carrying troops in northern Sri Lanka Saturday, killing five soldiers and wounding six, a police official said. The Claymore mine, which can be detonated by remote control, exploded as the bus approached the town of Vavuniya, said Gamini Silva, the deputy inspector general of police. He blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebel group for the blast.
Yemen
SAN'A — Security forces at a Shiite mosque in northern Yemen fought with supporters of a slain anti-U.S. cleric in a clash that left at least four people dead, officials said Saturday. A security official said the clash, which erupted as Friday prayers began at the Grand Mosque of Harf Sufiyan district in Amran province, killed four supporters of the cleric Hussein Badr Eddin al-Hawthi and wounded three.