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By Andrei Makhovsky MINSK (Reuters) - Belarus's opposition leader on Saturday publicly told President Alexander Lukashenko that more and more people were losing their fear of him and announced the formation of a movement to "liberate" the country from his grip. In the most audacious public challenge to the man who has just been re-elected after running Belarus with an iron rod for 12 years, Alexander Milinkevich told a rally: "I declare the creation of a Popular Movement for the Liberation of  ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Freed Christian peace campaigner Norman Kember on Saturday thanked the soldiers who rescued him from kidnappers in Iraq, in a statement made shortly after flying into London. "I do not believe that a lasting peace is achieved by armed force, but I pay tribute to their courage and thank those who played a part in my rescue," he said. British Army chief General Michael Jackson h ...

(CNN) -- Freed British hostage Norman Kember, who was held captive in Iraq for nearly four months, arrived in London on Saturday and thanked the soldiers who rescued him and two others. The plane carrying Kember, 74, landed at Heathrow airport at midday Saturday. After speaking briefly with reporters, Kember was taken away by car to an undisclosed location. "I do not believe that a lasting peace is achieved by armed force, but I pay tribute to their courage and thank those who played a p ...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - U.S. and Afghan government troops attacked a group of Taliban on Saturday and seven of the insurgents and one American were killed, an Afghan commander said. Afghanistan has seen a surge in attacks by Taliban and their militant allies in recent months and the Taliban have vowed to launch a spring offensive against U.S.-led foreign forces and the Western-backed government. Fighting erupted after U.S. troops backed by helicopter gunships and jets launched an ope ...

By Philip Pullella and Tom Heneghan VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict and 15 new cardinals he elevated to the highest ranks of the Roman Catholic Church paid tribute on Saturday to the late Pope John Paul, who died nearly a year ago, recalling his public suffering. Benedict, dressed in resplendent gold vestments, led the new "princes of the Church" in a solemn mass attended by tens of thous ...

By Louis Charbonneau KARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council has too often failed to act swiftly and effectively to contain international crises and needs to be reformed, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Saturday. "Too often, the Security Council's engagement is inadequate, selective, or after the fact," said Mohamed ElBaradei, last year's Nobel Peace Prize winner.  ...

By Thierry Leveque PARIS (Reuters) - France's interior minister on Saturday urged the government to find a compromise to defuse a crisis over a new youth labour law that has triggered mass protests and sporadic riots. Nicolas Sarkozy, a self-declared candidate for the 2007 presidential elections, expressed understanding for the young demonstrators in a speech at a meeting of his UMP party. "Twe ...

By Jeremy Lovell LONDON (Reuters) - Freed Christian peace campaigner Norman Kember flew home on Saturday following his dramatic dawn rescue by special forces soldiers after being held hostage in Iraq for nearly four months. Kember, 74, a retired professor of medical ethics, arrived at London's Heathrow Airport at 1225 GMT on a scheduled British Airways flight from Kuwait, where he had been flown in a British military transport plane from Baghdad on Friday afternoon. Relief at his escape was t ...

SELMER, Tennessee (CNN) -- To people in the congregation of the Fourth Street Church of Christ, Mary Winkler was "the perfect mother, the perfect wife." She and her husband, preacher Matthew Winkler, were an ideal couple, congregants said. But that image was shattered on Friday, when, according to police, Mary Winkler confessed to killing her husband. Selmer police investigator Roger Rickman said the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, which is taking part in questioning Mary Winkler,  ...

(CNN) -- A U.S. soldier has been killed and another wounded in a battle with about 20 Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military says. An Afghan National Army Soldier was also wounded in Saturday's fight, the military said. The battle, which included small arms fire and close-air support aircraft, took place in the Sangin District of Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan, the ...