World News

BELFAST (AFP) - Northern Ireland's leaders closed ranks Monday to denounce weekend attacks including a huge car bomb which only just failed to go off, in a new threat to the long-troubled province's fragile peace process.

LONDON (AFP) - More than half of Britons would support a tax on financial transactions if part of the money was directed to help people hit by the economic crisis here and abroad, a poll showed Monday.

LONDON (AFP) - Rafael Nadal was beaten in straight sets by Robin Soderling in his opening match at the ATP World Tour Finals on Monday, the Swede repeating his shock French Open win over the Spaniard.

BRASILIA, Brazil - Engaging, not isolating Iran is the way to push for peace and stability in the Middle East, said Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva as he headed into private talks Monday with his increasingly alienated Iranian counterpart.

MEXICO CITY - Mirna Torres salsas with a gray-bearded man for $1.50 a dance in the Barba Azul, a dark yet garish cabaret decorated like an erotic carnival fun house.

HAMILTON, Bermuda - Bermuda's highest court has struck down the conviction of a Florida woman who accidentally brought the ammunition magazine from her gun to the British island territory.

DUBLIN (AFP) - World champions South Africa on Monday put off naming the team to play Six Nations Grand Slam holders Ireland this Saturday in Dublin because of an injury crisis which forced them to cancel training.

LIBREVILLE (AFP) - Two French aid workers were kidnapped overnight by a gang of armed men in the northeast Central African Republic, close to the border with Sudan, a Bangui diplomat in Sudan said Monday.

BRASILIA (AFP) - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday began a controversial visit to Brazil, the key leg of a tour to sympathetic Latin American and African countries he sees backing Tehran's vision of "a new world order."

SYDNEY - Conjoined Bangladeshi twins who were separated in a marathon surgery last week left intensive care on Monday and were adjusting well, hospital officials said.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The federal government said Monday that it has found a "strong association" between problematic imported Chinese drywall and corrosion of pipes and wires, a conclusion that supports complaints by thousands of homeowners over the last year.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday appealed for wide-ranging cooperation with the United States on areas such as climate change and defense as he started a high-profile state visit.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Some Canadian provinces have stopped using a particular batch of the H1N1 flu vaccine after six people experienced severe allergic reactions, the country's health agency said on Monday.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's ruling Conservatives and the main opposition Liberals both lost ground in a poll published on Friday as the left-leaning New Democrats enjoyed a surprising surge in public support.

MIAMI (Reuters) - TD Bank was hit with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit on Friday calling it the "financial epicenter" of an alleged Ponzi scheme run by disgraced Florida lawyer Scott Rothstein.

SYDNEY - Conjoined Bangladeshi twins who were separated in a marathon surgery last week left intensive care on Monday and were adjusting well, hospital officials said.

MELBOURNE, Australia - A kangaroo startled by a man walking his dog attacked the pair, pinning the pet underwater and slashing the owner in the abdomen with its hind legs.

CANBERRA, Australia - A man who blames the Church of Scientology for his brother's suicide added his voice Monday to calls for an Australia Senate inquiry into the religion.

SYDNEY (AFP) - More than 100, and possibly hundreds, of Antarctic icebergs are floating towards New Zealand in a rare event which has prompted a shipping warning, officials said on Monday.

MELBOURNE, Australia - A kangaroo startled by a man walking his dog attacked the pair, pinning the pet underwater and slashing the owner in the abdomen with its hind legs.

MANILA, Philippines - Dozens of gunmen hijacked a convoy carrying journalists, and family and supporters of a candidate for provincial governor, killing at least 21 of the travelers Monday in the southern Philippines' worst political violence in years.