PALESTINE - Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has presided over a ceremony marking the official re-opening of the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Declaring the crossing at Rafah open, Mr Abbas said it was "a dream come true" for Gaza's 1.3 million residents.

COLOMBIA - One of Colombia's largest volcanoes has erupted, spewing huge amounts of ash and sulphur fumes.

UK - Anti-malaria drugs which save hundreds of thousands of lives every year are at risk of becoming useless, because of new counterfeiting tactics.

FRANCE - The French cabinet is seeking to extend by three months a state of emergency aimed at controlling suburban unrest. In the last seven days, over 4000 cars have been destroyed.

VATICAN - Pope Benedict told the United States' new ambassador on Saturday that world leaders had to consider the ethical and moral dimension of every political decision.

AMMAN, JORDAN - King Abdullah II called for a global fight against terrorism Saturday as Jordan acknowledged for the first time that al-Qaida in Iraq used three foreign suicide bombers to attack Amman hotels, killing 57 others.

PARIS, FRANCE - French officials say violence abating, but risk remains.

MUZAFFARABAD, PAKISTAN - Children likely make up half of the 74,000 people who died in the South Asian quake, the United Nations said on Friday, confirming fears that the disaster had claimed a "lost generation."

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - Fighting the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in poultry and preparing for the next human flu pandemic will cost about $1.5 billion over the next three years, experts estimated Wednesday.

JORDAN - In a region shaken by violence, Jordan has thrived over recent years as a safe haven - not least for Iraqis fleeing the mayhem in their own country.

USA - On October 6, Glen Beck, the host of a US syndicated radio show, received a call from a former "intelligence officer" called Mitch, who claimed to have personally tortured foreign detainees by burning their retinas with high-powered Halogen lamps and bursting their eardrums using high-pressure water and air.

CHINA - China's trade surplus will probably widen to $90 billion this year from $32 billion in 2004 because of surging exports from the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, clothes and steel, the Ministry of Commerce said.

PAKISTAN - Pakistan's army was flying geologists to an isolated northwestern valley Tuesday to investigate reports of possible volcanic activity after the massive October 8 earthquake that killed about 80,000 people, an official said.

IRAN - Iran, the world's fourth biggest oil producer, may hold back on oil sales if its nuclear programme is referred to the UN Security Council, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said.

BALAKOT, PAKISTAN - The death toll from Pakistan's earthquake rose sharply to nearly 40,000, with the president warning the numbers could jump still higher as relief teams reach more villages in the endless folds of the Himalayan mountains.