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Israel denies reports of Hamas negotiations

Israel’s prime minister denied media reports that it is negotiating with the militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, but said there will be Israeli "consultations" Sunday "regarding the situation in the south." “Should a decision of any kind be required, it will be made only via a meeting of the Security Cabinet and after taking into account all of the new political circumstances that have been created in the wake of the recent Israeli elections,” Yanki Galanti, the media adviser for Ehud Olmert, said Saturday night in a statement. The consultations are to take place among Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Israel held elections Tuesday which resulted in a near-tie between Livni’s centrist Kadima party and the right-wing Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu.

Second boy claims to be dad in UK baby case

A second teenager has reportedly claimed to be the father of a child born to a teenaged girl in a case which has caused an outcry in Britain. According to reports earlier this week Alfie Patten was only 12 when the baby was conceived with his girlfriend, Chantelle Steadman, 15. The Sun tabloid newspaper reported their daughter, Maisie Roxanne, was born on Monday

The Warlords of Afghanistan

Like many mothers in Afghanistan, Maghferat Samimi has affixed a photo of a child to her mobile phone. But the 2 1/2-year-old is not her daughter

World’s richest countries pledge to fix economy

The world’s richest countries committed to "any further action that may prove necessary" to restore confidence in the global financial system, their finance ministers said as they wrapped up a two-day meeting in Rome. The Group of Seven finance ministers also urged countries not to close their markets to goods and services from abroad. “An open system of global trade and investment is indispensable for global prosperity,” they said in a statement at the end of their meeting Saturday.

Venezuelans to vote on term limits for elected officials

Venezuelans will decide Sunday whether to change the constitution to allow President Hugo Chavez and other elected officials to run for office indefinitely. The National Assembly approved the referendum last month. Venezuelans narrowly rejected a similar measure in December 2007.

UAE denies visa to Israeli tennis player

The United Arab Emirates has refused to grant a visa to a female Israeli tennis player, preventing her from competing in the Sony Ericsson World Tennis Association Tour in Dubai, the WTA said in a statement Sunday. The move runs counter to WTA policy, which says no player should be barred from competing in a tournament for which she has qualified

For many Chinese, literary dreams go online

If it weren’t for the Internet, Murong Xuecun might still be working as a sales manager at a car company in the southern Chinese city of Chengdu. That is what he was doing when he started writing his first novel on his office’s online bulletin board system back in 2001

Hunger Activists Want Al Gore to Make Another Movie

From a distance, it looks like an ordinary movie poster.

Reporter’s Notebook: Visiting Lincoln’s Springfield

The best thing and the worst thing about Springfield is the same: the location. Middle of Illinois, which is not far from the middle of nowhere.

Rights Groups Probe India’s Shoot-Out Cops

Scarcely a day passes in India by without news of an encounter between the police and criminals elements — “encounter” being the local jargon for shootouts involving the police, who are allowed to fire only in self-defense. On Wednesday, it was a “dreaded mafia don” who was gunned down by the Uttar Pradesh police — shot dead, and therefore unable to challenge the police account of the circumstances of the shooting. But some in India have begun to question the frequency of such “encounters”