ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay (IHT) Fernando Lugo, "the bishop of the poor" as he is known here, was sworn in as president of Paraguay on Friday, ending six decades of one-party rule and promising to give land to the landless and to end the nation's entrenched corruption.

(Guardian) Triumphalism over a Musharraf impeachment won't hide the failings of Pakistan's ruling coalition.

(Democracy Now) Human Rights Watch has accused both Russian and Georgian forces of killing and injuring civilians through indiscriminate attacks over the past week of fighting.

(VOA) The African Union (AU) will be chairing a meeting between Somalia's transitional government and opposition political parties Friday in Djibouti.

KATHMANDU (IANS) After their unexpected triumph in Nepal’s general elections in April, the former Maoist guerrillas Friday began preparations to take up the reins of the new government with their chief Prachanda inching towards absolute victory in the prime ministerial race.

(Guardian) Critically low oxygen levels now pose as great a threat to life in the world's oceans as overfishing and habitat loss, say experts.

(Merco Press) Venezuela raised regulated prices of 15 basic foods ranging from bread to beef by up to 50% and removed price controls from other goods in an attempt to ease sporadic shortages in supermarkets.

MEXICO CITY (IHT) Fernando Martí was supposedly safe. The 14-year-old son of one of the most successful business owners in Mexico, he had a private driver to whisk him through the chaotic streets and a bodyguard.

(Sky News) As Russian troops take up positions on the main highway to Tbilisi, more than 20,000 refugees have arrived in the Georgian capital.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo held its first national oil and gas congress this week, seeking to drum up interest and investment in its potentially lucrative but long ignored crude sector.

(Economist) A witness and victim of the conflict in Darfur finds a voice.

DALLAS (IHT) U.S. presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain target religious voters on Saturday when as guests of one of America's foremost evangelists they discuss faith in public life, AIDS, the environment and other issues.

(Deutsche Welle) Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said he remains committed to reaching a deal with President Robert Mugabe, but only if he can wield power.

BAQOUBA (IPS) Haider, returned from Iran recently, with enough money to pay for his wedding and a new car. Like many others, he was trained to join Badr, the armed wing of the Dawa Party of US-backed Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

(BBC News) The claims and counter claims by Sri Lanka's warring parties in the current fighting have overshadowed civilian suffering and misery in the northern region.

(VOA) Syrian officials say Lebanon and Syria have agreed to establish diplomatic ties and exchange ambassadors for the first time since the two countries gained independence more than 60 years ago.

TBILISI-SUKHUMI HIGHWAY, Georgia (Moscow Times) Georgia and Russia angrily accused each other of breaching a truce as they mourned for their dead Wednesday.

(Guardian) Britain's honeybees have suffered catastrophic losses this year, according to a survey of the nation's beekeepers, contributing to a shortage of honey and putting at risk the pollination of fruits and vegetables.

KARACHI (Channel News Asia) Legislators in southern Pakistan voted on Wednesday for a resolution against President Pervez Musharraf, officials said, in the latest prelude to the US-backed leader's possible impeachment.

(Guardian) The Kremlin last night dictated humiliating peace terms to Georgia as the price for halting the Russian invasion of the small Black Sea country and its four-day rout of Georgian forces.

(Osservatorio Balcani) This year marks the 60th anniversary of the exodus of the “refugee children” from Aegean Macedonia (Northern Greece). They fled their homes amidst a civil war and when became adults, could not return to their homes nor claim their land. For this first time ever, their demands were endorsed by the Macedonian government.

PHNOM PENH (Channel News Asia) Cambodia's UN-backed tribunal on Tuesday indicted a former Khmer Rouge prison chief for crimes against humanity and war crimes, ahead of the first trial of regime leaders expected later this year.

MOSCOW (IHT) President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia agreed Tuesday to terms of a cease-fire that could end the clashes in Georgia, saying Russia had "punished" Georgia enough for its aggression against the separatist enclave of South Ossetia.

(VOA) Coup leaders in Mauritania have given themselves new powers, despite international condemnation of the August 6 takeover.

(NDTV) The Dalai Lama was set to begin on Tuesday the official programme of his visit to France with the blessing of a Vietnamese Buddhist temple outside of Paris.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just months before President Bush leaves office, his administration is antagonizing environmentalists by proposing changes that would allow federal agencies to decide for themselves whether subdivisions, dams, highways and other projects have the potential to harm endangered animals and plants.

HA NOI (Viet Nam News) Nearly 200 people in the North were killed, injured or missing due to rain and flooding, caused by Storm Kammuri, said the Central Steering Committee for Floods and Storm Control yesterday.

(Guardian) Rape victims seeking compensation are having their payouts reduced if they had been drinking before they were attacked.

(VOA) Georgia has asked China to use its influence to push for a resolution to a territorial flare-up with Russia. Georgian troops have pulled out of the breakaway province of South Ossetia after being overwhelmed by Russian forces. Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing.

MANILA (New York Times) The number of Filipinos displaced from their homes since fighting began late last week between government forces and Islamic separatists in the southern Philippines reached 130,000 on Monday, officials said.

(Daily Times) Rising food prices around the world are likely to drive poor women to trade sex for basic goods like fish and cooking oil, raising the risk of new AIDS infections, UN officials said on Monday.

(CNN) Myanmar's military rulers have extended the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for another year, a source who spoke to a member of her political party told CNN on Monday.

TEHRAN (AFP) Algerian President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika on Sunday started a visit to Iran at the head of a high-level political and economic team of ministers, the official IRNA news agency said.

(Der Spiegel) Violence in South Ossetia

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - It was no coincidence the U.S. military jurors at Guantanamo timed the prison sentence they gave Osama bin Laden's driver to end just before President George W. Bush's term does, legal analysts say.

TBILISI, Georgia (IHT) Russian tanks and troops moved through the separatist enclave of South Ossetia and advanced on the city of Gori in central Georgia on Sunday night, for the first time directly assaulting a Georgian city with ground forces after three days of heavy fighting, Georgian officials said.

PANAMA (Prensa Latina) The Panamanian indigenous people have no reason to celebrate their international day, because they have the worst poverty rates in the country, according to La Prensa daily.

(The Age) It is only a few months since a civilian government took office in Pakistan after a controversial poll marred by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and presidential manipulation of the constitution and the judiciary, but the country has once again been thrown into turmoil following the decision by the ruling coalition to impeach President Pervez Musharraf.

(Telegraph) The meeting between Robert Mugabe, the 84-year-old who has been in office for 28 years, and Morgan Tsvangirai, who won the first round of the presidential election in March as leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, had been touted as heralding a breakthrough.

(Ghana Broadcasting Corporation) The African Union has suspended Mauritania’s membership in the wake of a coup in that country.

(Washington Post) A new national poll shows broad public support for government action in the face of $4-a-gallon gas and other energy concerns, giving Republicans a rare opening to go on the offensive against congressional Democrats and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

ED DAMER, Sudan (International Herald Tribune) Even as it receives a billion pounds of free food from international donors, Sudan is growing and selling vast quantities of its own crops to other countries, capitalizing on high global food prices at a time when millions of people in its war-riddled region of Darfur barely have enough to eat.

(Malaysia Star) Between nuclear bombs and nuclear power generation, serious problems remain for ordinary people everywhere.