Top Stories - AFP

MOSCOW, (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy will ramp up the international pressure on Russia to withdraw more troops from Georgia as he visits Moscow and Tbilisi on Monday to shore up a fragile peace deal.

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli police on Sunday recommended indicting beleaguered Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on corruption charges in two different cases, but the premier's lawyers dismissed the move as irrelevant.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri, (AFP) - The US presidential election was set to shift into high gear Monday as Republican John McCain and Democratic rival Barack Obama rallied supporters in battleground states after a rare day off.

REYKJAVIK (AFP) - Some 40 legal experts from around the world gathered in Iceland on Sunday for a three-day conference aimed at staking out a new legal framework for the fragile and changing polar regions.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US government has taken over ailing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, placing them in a "conservatorship" in a bid to avert a financial system meltdown from the housing crisis.

SYDNEY (AFP) - US oil giant ConocoPhillips has agreed to pay up to 9.6 billion dollars (7.95 billion US) for a half stake in a natural gas project owned by Origin Energy in Australia, the companies said Monday.

NEW YORK, (AFP) - Britain's Andy Murray advanced to his first Grand Slam final by stunning world number one Rafael Nadal in a US Open semi-final, booking a date with reigning champion Roger Federer on Monday.

MIAMI (AFP) - Three-time National Football League Most Valuable Player Brett Favre made a triumphant return from retirement, leading his new team, the New York Jets, past Miami 20-14 here.

SHANGHAI (AFP) - In scenes reminiscent of a generation ago, Chinese are tapping friends and relatives travelling abroad to bring back electronic devices that are unavailable in China.

HAVANA (AFP) - Hurricane Ike took aim at Cuba Sunday after leaving 20 people dead in Haiti, where fatalities from a succession of powerful storms in the past few weeks now tops 600.

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan president-elect Asif Ali Zardari faced immediate pressure Sunday to tackle an upsurge in militant violence, as the toll from a suicide blast in the country's troubled northwest reached 33.

DETROIT (AFP) - Battered by weak sales, declining market share and miserable credit ratings, Detroit's Big Three automakers are now turning to the US government for help.

KOLKATA, India (AFP) - Tata Motors can go ahead with making the world's cheapest car at a factory in eastern India after talks yielded a compromise ending violent protests against the plant, officials said Sunday.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Britain's Andy Murray advanced to his first Grand Slam final by stunning world number one Rafael Nadal on Sunday in a US Open semi-final, booking a date with reigning champion Roger Federer on Monday.

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (AFP) - Formula One was plunged into new controversy on Sunday when race stewards at the Belgian Grand Prix stunningly stripped Lewis Hamilton of a brilliant victory.

BEIJING (AFP) - The United States and Britain set the early pace at the Paralympics Sunday as Olympic swimmer Natalie du Toit claimed her first gold and Chinese officials played down an embarrassing security breach.

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Asif Ali Zardari secured a large win in Pakistan's presidential elections on Saturday, capping a remarkable rise from jail, exile and his wife Benazir Bhutto's assassination just nine months ago.

YEREVAN (AFP) - The presidents of Armenia and Turkey pledged Saturday to overcome decades of enmity between their two nations during the first visit to Yerevan by a Turkish head of state.

CERNOBBIO, Italy (AFP) - Tensions between Russia and the United States over Georgia intensified Saturday with Vice President Dick Cheney casting Moscow as a brutal regime that aims to recapture its Soviet-era dominance.

CAIRO (AFP) - At least 24 people were killed on Saturday when dozens of homes in a northern Cairo shantytown were crushed by a massive rockslide, rescue officials said.

MIAMI (AFP) - Tropical Storm Hanna raced across the southeastern United States on Saturday, battering the coast with powerful waves, rain and wind as Florida and Cuba kept a wary eye on a dangerous hurricane.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Boeing machinists took to the picket line on Saturday as they launched a strike that has halted production and could cost the US aerospace giant more than 100 million dollars per day.

BERLIN (AFP) - German car maker Daimler will not countenance any move to hive off its truck and van division, a spokesman said Saturday in response to reports that it is under pressure from a Swedish investment fund.

BEIJING (AFP) - China once again dazzled the world with a glittering ceremony as the Paralympics opened Saturday in the iconic "Bird's Nest" National Stadium with the message that all life has value and dignity.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Roger Federer moved within one victory of his fifth consecutive US Open title Saturday, firing 20 aces to overpower Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.

VENICE, Italy (AFP) - Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler," starring gritty survivor Mickey Rourke, won the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice film festival on Saturday.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Oil giant ConocoPhillips will pay up to 9.6 billion dollars (eight billion US) for a half share in a natural gas project owned by Origin Energy in Australia, the companies said Monday.

VIENNA (AFP) - OPEC ministers headed for Vienna on Monday to wrestle with the issue of falling oil prices, with analysts expecting them to agree to trim output to help keep crude above 100 dollars a barrel.