ARGENTINA - Argentina was celebrating a diplomatic coup today in its attempt to force Britain to accept talks on the future of the Falkland Islands, after an extraordinary two-hour meeting in Buenos Aires between Hillary Clinton and the country's President Fernandez de Kirchner.
UK - Using fossil fuel in vehicles is better for the environment than so-called green fuels made from crops, according to a government study seen by The Times. The findings show that the Department for Transport's target for raising the level of biofuel in all fuel sold in Britain will result in millions of acres of forest being logged or burnt down and converted to plantations.
EUROPE - More than half of voters in four other major European states back a push by France's Nicolas Sarkozy to ban women from wearing the burka, according to an opinion poll for the Financial Times.
EUROPE - The European Commission has cleared the way for a genetically modified potato to be grown in the EU - only the second GM product it has allowed. The starch of the Amflora potato can be utilised for industrial uses like making paper, and for animal feed - but not for human consumption.
LONDON, UK - Suicide bombers have been described as the "heroes of hellfire" by a leading Muslim scholar in a fatwa issued in London which condemned terrorists as the enemies of Islam. Pakistan-born Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri said there were no "ifs or buts" about terrorism and such acts had no justification in the name of Islam.
EUROPE - With Greece expected to begin a 5 billion euro bond issue this week, the European Union has said it wants Athens to introduce even more austerity measures to bring down its budget deficit. Euro zone chief Juncker now says he may reveal "instruments of torture" in the currency's battle against speculators.
UK - A factory farm housing more than 8,000 'battery cows' will be built in the English countryside. Under the controversial plans, Britain's largest ever dairy herd will be kept in industrial-scale sheds with little access to pasture or sunshine. The cows will be milked around the clock to produce 430,000 pints each day - while their slurry will be recycled to generate power for the national grid.
GERMANY - German Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner has launched an attack on the Internet economy, warning that the likes of Google, Microsoft and Apple store vast amounts of personal information on web users that can be used for financial gain, and can hurt people's chances of getting jobs or bank loans.
USA - Barack Obama's home state of Illinois is near the point of fiscal disintegration. "The state is in utter crisis," said Representative Suzie Bassi. "We are next to bankruptcy. We have a $13 billion hole in a $28 billion budget."
CHINA - China should build the world's strongest military and move swiftly to topple the United States as the global "champion", a senior Chinese PLA officer says in a new book reflecting swelling nationalist ambitions.
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Israeli police forces stormed the most contentious holy site in Jerusalem on Sunday to disperse masked Palestinian protesters hurling objects at visiting foreign tourists. In the past, violence at the site - known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary - has erupted into deadly battles.
THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS - Former leader Radovan Karadzic has said the Serb cause in the Bosnian war was "just and holy" as he began his defence at his genocide trial at The Hague. Mr Karadzic, who led the Bosnian Serbs during the war in the 1990s, said there was a core group of Muslims in Bosnia - then and now - who wanted 100% power.
UK - The IFE's fundamentalist beliefs would not matter that much if it had no access to political power. But the particular skill of the organisation, and its allies, is to use secular politicians of many parties and the democratic process for its own, very different ends.
OTTAWA, CANADA - A Canadian government department is poised to approve genetically modified pigs for the food supply, the Canwest News Service reported Friday. Sources told the agency Environment Canada will announce approval of the strain known as "enviropigs" Saturday. The strain would then need approval from Health Canada before the pigs enter the food market.
USA - Chile is on a hotspot of sorts for earthquake activity. And so the 8.8 magnitude temblor that shook the region overnight was not a surprise, historically speaking. Nor was it outside the realm of normal, scientists say, even though it comes on the heels of other major earthquakes. "This particular subduction zone has produced very damaging earthquakes throughout its history," said Randy Baldwin, a geophysicist with the US Geological Survey.