World - AFP

ISLAMABAD, Aug 22, 2008 (AFP) - Pakistan's shaky ruling coalition was set for a make-or-break meeting on Friday, a day after a double suicide bombing killed 64 people and underscored the government's struggle with extremism.

MADRID (AFP) - Distraught relatives of the 153 victims of the Madrid airline disaster struggled Thursday to identify charred remains of their loved ones as investigators scoured the wreckage for clues.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Washington and Baghdad said on Thursday they were very close to signing a crucial military deal that would decide the future of American forces in Iraq after the UN mandate expires in December.

CHESAPEAKE, Virginia (AFP) - Democrat Barack Obama ripped into John McCain, branding him as out of touch with everyday Americans, after the Republican White House hopeful could not say how many homes he owns.

ABUJA (AFP) - Three of the top four military commanders in oil-rich but strife-wracked Nigeria have been replaced, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's office said Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Two campaign offices for Republican White House hopeful John McCain were evacuated and staffers quarantined after threatening letters containing suspicious powder were received, officials said.

NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) - Mauritanian Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghf, forced out in a military coup on August 6, was re-arrested Thursday, political parties who support the ousted regime said.

PARIS (AFP) - Chinese troops fired on Tibetan protesters this week, as Beijing hosted the Olympics, and 400 people have been killed since unrest erupted in March, the Dalai Lama was quoted as saying in an interview published Thursday.

MIAMI8 (AFP) - Tropical Storm Fay began a second slow slog across mainland Florida Thursday, as President George W. Bush declared an emergency in the waterlogged, wind-battered state.

WAH, Pakistan (AFP) - Two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside Pakistan's main army munitions factory Thursday, killing 64 workers in the deadliest attack on a military installation in the country's history.

TSKHINVALI, Georgia (AFP) - Georgia faced dismemberment Thursday as Moscow-backed separatists hardened independence demands and Russia retained an iron grip on the eve of a promised troop withdrawal.

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan's coalition government was close to collapse Thursday after former premier Nawaz Sharif threatened to quit if judges sacked by ousted president Pervez Musharraf are not restored.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A second campaign office for Republican White House hopeful John McCain was evacuated after receiving a threatening letter containing a powder substance, a spokesman said Thursday.

MADRID (AFP) - A Spanish tourist jet carrying 172 people careened off a Madrid airport runway and broke up in flames on Wednesday, killing 153 people in the country's worst air crash in more than 20 years, the government said.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Moscow moved closer Wednesday to recognising the independence of two Georgian separatist regions at the centre of Caucasus conflict -- as a diplomatic onslaught with its former Cold War rivals gathered pace.

WARSAW (AFP) - Warsaw and Washington signed a deal Wednesday to deploy a US missile shield in Poland, in the face of deep anger and threats of retaliation from Moscow.

KABUL (AFP) - President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday told French soldiers mourning 10 comrades killed by the Taliban that their work in Afghanistan was essential for the "freedom of the world" and must continue.

ALGIERS (AFP) - Two car bomb attacks in eastern Algeria killed at least 12 people, state radio and a Canadian employer reported Wednesday with the country still reeling from a suicide bomber who killed 43 people a day earlier.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Republican John McCain grabbed the lead over Democrat Barack Obama in a new opinion poll Wednesday, as his campaign built steam with the White House race entering a pivotal phase.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The UN will by the end of October offer a package of "options" to resolve territorial disputes in Iraq, including in volatile Kirkuk claimed by both Arabs and Kurds, an official said Wednesday.

ISTANBUL (AFP) - Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, named as a possible war crimes suspect in Darfur, said here Wednesday that no citizen of his country would ever be handed over to international justice.

KIEV (AFP) - Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Wednesday refuted allegations of treason levelled by the presidency which hinted that she sided with Russia over the conflict in Georgia, a report said.

LA PAZ (AFP) - Demonstrators opposed to socialist reforms imposed by President Evo Morales on Wednesday threw up roadblocks in parts of eastern Bolivia, extending protests expressed in a strike the day before.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Staff members at two campaign offices for White House hopeful John McCain were quarantined Thursday after threatening letters containing a suspicious powder substance were received, officials said.

CHESTER, Virginia (AFP) - Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama said in an interview Thursday he had chosen his running mate, and had sought out an independent thinker who was ready to be president.

CHESTER, Virginia (AFP) - Democrat Barack Obama ripped into John McCain Thursday saying he was out of touch with economic reality after the Republican confessed to being in the dark about how many properties he owns.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Surging Republican John McCain has narrowed the White House race to a statistical dead-heat, halving Barack Obama's opinion poll leads as the Democrat gears up for his nominating convention next week.

PARIS (AFP) - The Dalai Lama denies he told a French newspaper that Chinese soldiers may have shot 140 Tibetan protesters this week, his office said Thursday.