Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO — The United States and Brazil will look for ways this weekend to bridge bitter divisions between rich and poor nations that led to the collapse of trade liberalization talks, Washington's chief trade negotiator said Friday. U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab made that comment the day before a hastily arranged meeting Saturday with Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.
China
SHANGHAI — An explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China killed at least 12 people Friday and prompted the evacuation of 7,000 others, state media and officials said. Also Friday, two unrelated explosions at another chemical plant and aboard an oil tanker injured at least five people, with two others missing and feared dead.
Germany
HAMBURG — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is ending its loss-generating business in Germany just two months after leaving South Korea in what analysts welcomed as a move to focus resources on expanding in more profitable international markets like China and Latin America. Wal-Mart said Friday it plans to sell its 85 stores in Germany to rival Metro AG.
Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Hundreds of people fled their homes in a hillside slum of the Haitian capital Friday to escape fierce fighting between gangs that has killed at least 30 people in the past two months, officials said. A nearby compound run by the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Union became a makeshift refugee camp for about 300 people.
India
NEW DELHI — With no new cases of bird flu in three months, India will soon declare itself free of the deadly virus, officials said Friday. India developed a poultry vaccine for the deadly H5N1 virus after a March outbreak led to the slaughter of tens of thousands of chickens. No human cases have been reported in India.
Nepal
KATMANDU — Communist rebels and the government have extended a cease-fire for another three months to allow talks aimed at ending Nepal's decadelong conflict to continue, a rebel spokesman said Friday. The two sides declared a cease-fire April 27 after King Gyanendra ceded most of his power to a new parliamentary government. That accord was due to expire on Thursday.
Nigeria
LAGOS — Police investigating the murder of a Nigerian politician arrested a state senator and the victim's campaign manager Friday as suspects in his death. Funsho Williams was found strangled in his home Thursday. A potential gubernatorial candidate, he had vowed to wrest control of wealthy Lagos from the opposition Alliance for Democracy party in April elections.
Russia
MOSCOW — Russia on Friday published a list of 17 groups it regards as terrorist organizations, but did not include the Palestinian militant movement Hamas or Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrilla group, both regarded as terrorists in Washington. The terrorist list included al-Qaida and the Taliban as well as the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood.
Somalia
BAIDOA — A Cabinet member was assassinated Friday as he left a mosque, enraging hundreds of Somalis who rioted in the streets screaming, "We want a government that can restore law and order!" It was the second shooting of a lawmaker this week.
Spain
MADRID — A former Guantanamo prisoner suspected of links to al-Qaida has been released pending trial, Spain's National Court said Friday. Moroccan-born Lahcen Ikassrien has been ordered to report daily to police and is prohibited from leaving the country without permission, the court said in a statement. He is expected to stand trial in September.
MADRID — Police found the bodies of four Africans on a boat packed with would-be immigrants that was intercepted off Spain's Canary Islands, an official said Friday. The deaths bring to nine the number of destitute travelers who have died in a week in the latest wave of migrants seeking a better life in Europe.