WTO may have to lower sights for Hong Kong meet
LONDON (Reuters) - Trade ministers appeared ready on Tuesday to discuss lowering expectations for a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting next month because their differences are too wide. At the end of six hours of talks in London between ministers from Brazil, India, the United States, the European Union and Japan, India's Trade Minister Kamal Nath told journalists that the WTO might not be able to achieve the full blueprint for a global free trade deal as planned.
US soldiers killed in spate of Iraq bombings
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Four U.S. soldiers were among at least 15 people killed in a bloody day of suicide car bombings in and around Baghdad on Monday as a major offensive against Sunni Arab insurgents took place near Iraq's border with Syria. The four soldiers from Task Force Baghdad were killed when a car bomber attacked their checkpoint on a road south of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.
Israel's Sharon is dealt blow in parliament showdown
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a humiliating parliamentary rebuke by rebellious members of his own party on Monday, reflecting fallout over Israel's Gaza pullout that could lead to early elections. In a test of strength, parliament first rejected three cabinet appointments presented in an "all or nothing" package but then approved Ehud Olmert as finance minister when Sharon re-submitted his deputy's nomination for a separate vote.
UN, Red Cross say cash crisis hits quake relief
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations and the global Red Cross/Red Crescent said on Monday that urgent cash support from the outside world was vital to save thousands of lives as winter moves in on homeless survivors of the Pakistan earthquake. The United Nations, struggling to raise $550 million for a medium-term program to help quake victims and rebuild shattered communities, appealed to donor countries for $42.4 million to fund relief in the region this month.
China jails three for illegally printing Bibles
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court on Tuesday sentenced a Protestant minister, his wife and her brother to prison terms of up to three years for illegally printing Bibles and other Christian publications, one of their lawyers said. The conviction of house church minister Cai Zhuohua, 34, and his family by the Beijing People's Intermediate Court came days before U.S. President George W. Bush arrives for a state visit.
US condemns Myanmar over secret trials
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday condemned military-ruled Myanmar's secret trials and lengthy prison sentences for eight Shan political leaders in a Yangon court last week. Hkun Htun Oo, Chairman of the United Nationalities Alliance, a coalition of pro-democracy ethnic parties, was sentenced to 53 years and two life sentences, the U.S. State Department said.
