HARARE, Zimbabwe, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says the Movement for Democratic Change must join the proposed unity government or be left out completely.

BRUSSELS (IHT) After the crisis over Georgia, new divisions have emerged within the European Union over whether to offer Ukraine a clear signal that it might one day join the 27-nation bloc.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The likely next president of unstable, nuclear-armed Pakistan following Saturday's election is a horse-loving aristocrat who has spent more years in prison than in politics — a novice leader lifted to prominence by his marriage to Benazir Bhutto and propelled into power by her murder.

MANILA, 5 September 2008 (IRIN) - Up to 500,000 people are enduring poor health services and unsanitary conditions after fleeing the fighting between the government and Muslim rebels in the south.

(BBC News) Several hundred thousand people need help in Haiti, which is suffering severe flooding after being hit by a series of tropical storms, the UN says.

(Guardian) Historic handshake in desert tent signifies ending half-century of hostilities.

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (GMA News TV) Despite the government’s decision to dissolve its peace negotiating panel, Moro rebels are still open to holding talks to end their century-old struggle in Mindanao.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — A deadly American-led raid on a Pakistani village embarrassed the government and eroded support for the pro-U.S. presidential front-runner Thursday just two days before the election.

BEIRUT (IHT) President Bashar al-Assad of Syria said Thursday that his country had made specific proposals to Turkish mediators for peace with Israel.

(Guardian) They are plucked off pizzas and discarded from caesar salads across the country, but somebody, somewhere has been eating too many anchovies. The fish that has divided food fans for years is today named on a list of unsustainable fish and shellfish that ethical consumers should not eat.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (IHT) Battles between government forces and ethnic Tamil separatists raged across northern Sri Lanka, with the military saying Thursday that it killed 28 rebels and the rebels claiming 11 government troops died in the fighting.

NAIROBI, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Kenya said on Wednesday the proliferation of small arms and light weapons were the main cause of instability in the region.

(Rediff News) The Bush administration, through a gag order on its written responses to Congressional questions, had sought to keep the Indian public in the dark on the larger implications of the nuclear deal, lest the accord run into rougher weather. But now its 26 pages of written answers have been publicly released by a senior United States Congressman.

(Mail & Guardian) Angolan political parties were set to wrap up an intensive election campaign on Wednesday with mass rallies as Africa's biggest oil producer prepared for its first peacetime election on Friday.

(Guardian) General Ali Shah Khan Paktiwal, the chief of the Kabul criminal investigation department, sits forward in his chair, stubs out a Marlboro Red and stabs the air with his finger. "Paktiwal knows no fear," he says quietly. "Paktiwal does not even know the meaning of the word fear."

UPI, Mindanao (IPS) Amidst the raging conflict between government forces and Muslim rebels on the island of Mindanao, the religiously mixed population in the North Cotabato region looks to a community radio station as a beacon of peace.

(Guardian) Relief supplies in Bihar are going to the highest castes first, ignoring plight of the most desperate, according to reports.

(Gulf News) Tehran: Iranian women's rights activists on Tuesday celebrated a parliament decision to indefinitely delay a vote on a bill on families.

DERA MURAD JAMALI (Daily Times) Naseerabad police on Monday arrested seven suspects after the government ordered an investigation into the killing of three girls and two women who were allegedly shot and buried alive around two months ago in Babakot village, 320 kilometres east of Quetta.

(OpEd News) Amy Goodman of Pacifica Network's Democracy Now! was arrested in St. Paul, Minnesota, while trying to free two of her producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, who were unlawfully detained. Also arrested was Associated Press photographer, Matt Rourke.

(Democracy Now!) Nearly two million people have evacuated their homes as Hurricane Gustav heads towards the Gulf Coast. The Category 3 storm is expected to make landfall by midday today, with winds at 115 miles per hour.

(Daily Nation) Zimbabweans are slowly resigning themselves to the prospect of another five years under President Robert Mugabe’s rule after last ditch power sharing talks between the ruling Zanu PF and the opposition at the weekend left the two parties further apart.

KABUL (IRIN) - The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says donors must provide "vital funding” to enable aid agencies to avert a possible humanitarian crisis this winter.

(Guardian) Concerns over the destruction of the Brazilian rainforest resurfaced at the weekend after it emerged that deforestation jumped by 64% over the last 12 months, according to official government data.

GORI, Georgia: As quickly as war erupted between Russia and Georgia, more than 150,000 refugees left home in a fearful scramble. More than three weeks later, many are stranded in tents, some with little prospect of ever venturing back to their burned, mined villages; others have gone home; some are in Russia. All carry the scars that make any war, however short, linger long in popular memory and legend.

CARACAS, Venezuela (IHT) Fuming over assertions by American officials that cocaine smuggling through Venezuela has surged in recent years, President Hugo Chávez threatened the American ambassador with expulsion on Sunday, opening a new phase of tension between Venezuela and the United States.

BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - Hindu mobs have burnt at least four more churches in Orissa, officials said on Monday, as religious violence appeared to spread.

HAMMOND, La. (Washington Post) Although attention is focused on the petroleum industry as Hurricane Gustav takes aim at the Gulf Coast, billions of dollars are at stake in other economic sectors: New Orleans' trademark tourism industry, the shipping business, sugar harvesting _ and even such niche products as red-hot Tabasco sauce.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — The advice of doctors to Zimbabweans is, don't get sick. If you do, don't count on hospitals — they're short of drugs and functioning equipment.

NUREK, Tajikistan (IHT) The inscription just above a tunnel at the foot of the colossal Nurek hydropower dam in south central Tajikistan is succinct: "Water Is Life." The frigid, frothing Vakhsh River rushing under it adds a visual punctuation mark.

(New York Times) Chandra Bhan Prasad was born into the Pasi community, once considered untouchable on the ancient Hindu caste order. Today, he is the rare outcaste columnist in the English language press and a professional provocateur. His latest crusade is to argue that India's economic liberalization is about to do the unthinkable: destroy the caste system.

(Minnesota Independent) After the raids Friday and Saturday by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department and the Minneapolis Police Department led to six arrests, the Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild is seeking a judicial review of the “probable cause holds” being used to detain the six activists in the Ramsey County Jail.

(Bloomberg) -- A Hindu group seeking the transfer of land to caretakers of a shrine in Kashmir ended protests after the state government agreed to its demands, an official said.

(Los Angeles Times) The Alaska governor has ascended on good fortune, grit and force of personality.