Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf on Monday listed extremism as the most important issue afflicting the Muslim states and said its menace is spawning terrorism.

The South Korean government announced on Monday that it will invest in Nigeria's railway modernization in exchange for the African country's transfer of stakes in an operational oil field to Seoul.

Indonesian intelligent agency (BIN) said Monday that a small number of Christians and Muslims, who are not satisfied with the peace accord in 2001, have initiated violence in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province.

The much awaited summit talks between the ruling Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and the guerrillas started at 4 PM local time (1015 GMT) Monday at residence of Nepali Prime Minister's residence at Baluwater, northern part of Kathmandu.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will travel to Gaza where Prime Minister Ismail Haneya would announce the resignation of the Hamas-led government following a deal to form a new unity one, a Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) member said on Monday.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat Monday called for a mutual truce between Israel and the Palestinians as an Israeli operation in the northern Gaza Strip entered the sixth day.

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced Monday that it has upgraded Indonesia's intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement rating, ahead of a visit by President George W. Bush scheduled for Nov. 20.

Some 130 anti-government militants laid down their arms and joined the Afghan government, a local newspaper reported Monday.

The elusive leader of Uganda's rebel Lords Resistance Army (LRA) Joseph Kony, has asked for a meeting with the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland when he visits the region next week.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Monday tested some new weapons during the ongoing military exercises, including new automatic cannons and rocket launchers, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.