NoKor - Nuclear: A top U.S. nuclear negotiator is welcoming North Korea's report that it shut down its main nuclear facility but warns that more work is needed to end the country's weapons programs.
Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill made the comments in Japan today (Sunday) as U.N. inspectors began efforts to verify North Korea's announcement.
The team from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in North Korea Saturday. It will spend weeks making sure the facility in Yongbyon is fully closed, and setting up monitoring equipment to ensure it is not restarted.
The IAEA has not worked in North Korea since 2002, when Pyongyang abandoned the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, kicked the agency's staff out of the country and restarted the Yongbyon reactor.
Pakistan - Attack: Pakistan army officials say at least 14 security personnel and civilians have been killed and many others wounded by explosions today (Sunday) in northwestern Pakistan.
At least three bomb blasts hit a security convoy in the Swat area in the second deadly incident in 24 hours in the same Taleban stronghold near the Afghanistan border. The military says about 40 people were wounded in the explosions.
On Saturday, a suicide car bomber struck a military convoy, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers and wounding 28 more.
In another development, pro-Taleban militants in (North Waziristan,) a Pakistan border region with Afghanistan said today (Sunday) they are pulling out of a peace accord reached last year. Pakistan last September signed a peace accord with tribal leaders in the region.
Thailand South: Thai police say unidentified gunmen have killed two men in the country's insurgency-hit south.
An Islamic teacher was killed this (Sunday) morning at a busy market in Yala province. His wife was wounded in the attack.
Police say gunmen also killed a state railroad worker in neighboring Narathiwat province today (Sunday).
Since 2004, more than two thousand people have been killed by separatists and other militants in Thailand's Muslim-majority southern provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani.
The country is nearly 95 percent Buddhist. Some militants in the south have expressed frustration with the way the government treats Muslims in the region.
The victims of the violence in southern Thailand often include Buddhists and some Muslims seen to be supporting the government.
Israel - Palestinians: Israel has agreed to stop hunting about 180 wanted Fatah militants who have signed a pledge to stop attacks against the Jewish state.
Officials on both sides said today (Sunday) that the gunmen who renounced terrorism will be removed from Israel's wanted list and will not be pursued if they do not take part in any way in terrorism.
The amnesty is one of several gestures that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is making to support the moderate government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Israel has announced it will free 250 Fatah prisoners from Israeli jails. It also has begun transferring Palestinian tax revenues that were frozen after Hamas won a a Palestinian election in 2006.
Lebanon: Lebanese authorities say Islamic militants holding out in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon fired rockets today (Sunday) that landed in nearby fields.
Security officials say Fatah al-Islam militants fired at least four Katyusha rockets that landed a few kilometers north of the Nahr el-Bared camp, where the militants have been battling the army for two months. Officials said no casualties were immediately reported.
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