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By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent HAVANA (Reuters) - India and Pakistan will resume formal peace negotiations frozen after July train bombings in Mumbai and set up a joint agency to tackle terrorism, their leaders said on Saturday. Talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf defied low hopes for progress amid resentment in Islamabad and anger in New Delhi, which blamed Pakistani militants for the carnage in Mumbai that killed 186 people. "It wa ...

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has frozen talks on forming a unity government after Hamas said it would not accept existing peace deals with Israel, an aide said on Sunday. The impasse threatens to unravel Palestinian efforts to end international isolation and restore direct Western aid that was cut when the militant Hamas movement took office in March. "Abu  ...

Corrects paragraph 10 to make clear that the two sides directed officials to hold talks for an early resolution of the disputed Siachen region in Kashmir, and not a joint survey. Also adds to the same paragraph that they agreed to carry out a joint survey of a disputed estuary known as Sir Creek. By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent HAVANA (Reuters) - India and Pakistan will resume formal peace negotiations frozen after July train bombings in Mumbai and set up a joint agency to tackle terrorism, ...

By Frank Jack Daniel MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican leftists, who say the July 2 election was stolen, declared their candidate their "legitimate president" on Saturday, a symbolic move reducing the risk of street protests to make the country ungovernable. Aides said Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who narrowly lost the election, would use mainly political means rather than widespread protests in leading opposition to conservative President-elect Felipe Calderon. Tens of thousands of leftists me ...

By Gilbert Le Gras SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The World Bank and four of the largest regional development banks agreed on Sunday to share evidence and use common methods to probe corruption, but not all of them plan to publish companies' names. The agreement is another step in World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz's drive since last year to stamp out the abuse of development funding by people who siphon off cash for personal gain. "We're running into some legal problems," said Asian Development Bank ...

By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent HAVANA (Reuters) - India and Pakistan will resume formal peace negotiations frozen after July train bombings in Mumbai and set up a joint agency to tackle terrorism, their leaders said on Saturday. Talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf defied low hopes for progress amid resentment in Islamabad and anger in New Delhi, which blamed Pakistani militants for the carnage in Mumbai that killed 186 people. "It wa ...

By Stephen Brown VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pressure mounted on Pope Benedict to issue a personal apology on Sunday when he makes his first public appearance since Muslim fury erupted over comments he made about Islam. The Vatican said on Saturday the Pope was sorry Muslims had been offended and that his comments had been misconstrued, but Muslim countries and religious groups remained angry at what they said portrayed Islam as a religion tainted with violence. Morocco withdrew its ambassador t ...

By Tomas Sarmiento CULIACAN, Mexico (Reuters) - Powerful Hurricane Lane thrashed western Mexico on Saturday, threatening tens of thousands of people with flash floods and causing a second death on the Pacific coast. Two thousand people in the state of Sinaloa rushed to evacuation shelters as the storm slammed into a low-lying coastal area between the city of Culiacan and the tourist resort of Mazatlan. Lane arrived as a dangerous Category 3 hurricane but weakened as it moved inland, and the U ...

CULIACAN, Mexico (Reuters) - Hurricane Lane rapidly weakened as it moved over western Mexico on Saturday and the U.S. National Hurricane Centre downgraded it to a Category 1 storm. Lane slammed into the Mexican Pacific coast south of the city of Culiacan earlier in the day as a dangerous Category 3 hurricane but it lost strength and wind speeds dropped to near 90 miles per hour (145 kilometres per hour), the Miami-based centre said.

By Stephen Brown VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Pope was due on Sunday to make his first public appearance since Muslim fury erupted over remarks he made about Islam, with pressure growing for a personal apology. The Vatican issued a statement on Saturday saying the Pope was sorry Muslims had been offended by a speech whose meaning had been misconstrued; but Muslim countries and religious groups continued to express anger at remarks they felt portrayed Islam as a religion tainted with violence.  ...