AFP - Australia, stung by Indonesian outrage over Canberra's decision to grant asylum to refugees from Papua, has insisted that it remained opposed to independence for the restive Indonesian province.

Indonesia slams Australia's decision to grant visas to asylum seekers from Indonesia's Papua province.

Reuters - The chief of India's ruling Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, quit on Thursday as member of parliament and a key advisory body, after charges she had violated the constitution by holding both posts.

Reuters - An Indonesian government study has found environmental problems at Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.'s giant mine in Papua, which the company said on Thursday it was trying to fix.

AFP - India's ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi resigned from parliament following opposition allegations that she had breached parliamentary regulations by holding other salaried posts.

India's Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi resigns as an MP after claims she holds another salaried public post.

Eritrean government expels at least three aid agencies, despite being in the grip of a serious drought.

AP - Past a faded green door, under washing flapping from a line, stands a dilapidated house that represents the beginning of a Jewish odyssey. The house on the Darb al-Kadareen alley in this town's Jewish quarter was once the home of a toddler named Armand Perez who would take the Hebrew name Amir Peretz and become the Israeli Labor Party's candidate for prime minister in Tuesday's election.

AP - Gloria Estefan, who was temporarily paralyzed in a tour-bus accident 16 years ago, is donating $1 million for the creation of a human clinical trials program at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.

AFP - Indonesia's Papua remained tense with hundreds of students hiding in the jungle to evade a police manhunt, reports said, as the death toll from riots over a US-run mine rose to six.

AP - The Cincinnati Reds acquired catcher David Ross on Tuesday in a trade with the San Diego Padres for right-hander Bobby Basham.

AP - The Cincinnati Reds acquired catcher David Ross on Tuesday in a trade with the San Diego Padres for right-hander Bobby Basham.

AP - State Sen. Raymond Meier announced his candidacy Monday for the GOP nomination for the congressional seat being vacated by fellow Republican Sherwood Boehlert.

AP - Seven African leaders reviewed efforts to restore peace in Somalia and Uganda and attempts to resolve a festering border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia Monday.

AP - The PGA Tour's decision to move the Booz Allen Classic to the fall is costing the tournament its title sponsor.

AFP - Indonesian police say they are holding 12 people as suspects in deadly clashes that erupted last week in Papua province during protests to demand the closure of a US mine there.

Reuters - Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said on Saturday he would not cave in to mounting pressure to resign and that the country's pro-Syrian Hizbollah guerrillas should keep their arms.

Reuters - Indonesian authorities have detained another 11 people in Papua province after three policemen and a soldier died in clashes with protesters demanding closure of a giant U.S.-run mine, police said on Saturday.

AFP - Indonesian police are questioning 68 people over deadly clashes with protestors demanding the closure of a US mine in Papua province.

AFP - Indonesian police said they had arrested 57 people in Papua after bloody clashes with protesters demanding the closure of a huge US mine, as the death toll rose to five and tensions remained high.