Leader of Japan's junior ruling coalition New Komeito called on the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to continue sticking to Japan's non- nuclear policies on Sunday, Kyodo News said.

Three Palestinian military groups, taking an Israeli soldier hostage in Gaza, on Sunday threatened to kill the hostage if Israel does not stop a large-scale operation in the northern Gaza Strip.

Democrats in California are counting on the anti-Bush mood to drive supporters to the polls as part of a national wave against Republicans in the midterm elections.

Tajik voters go to the polls on Monday in the presidential election, in which incumbent President Emomali Rakhmonov is running against four other candidates for the country's top job.

The speaker of Somalia's transitional parliament arrived Sunday in Mogadishu, in an effort to negotiate a peace deal with the increasingly powerful Islamists to avert a looming war in the lawless nation.

Two blasts rocked Guwahati, main city of northeast Indian state Assam, on Sunday evening, killing at least eight people, Indo-Asian News Service reported.

The Nepali Seven-Party Alliance government and the guerrillas are going to hold the next round of summit peace talks on Monday.

Afghan and NATO troops have killed about 180 insurgents and detained more than a dozen others in the past week during a major joint operation, spokesman of Afghan Defense Ministry said Sunday.

The former Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on Sunday.

Officials from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) said on Sunday that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) has agreed in principle to from a unity government.