● <B> BELGRADE. </B>Serbia’s ultranationalist Radical Party claimed victory in national elections on Sunday, in a voter rejection of Western appeals for closer cooperation on the arrest of war criminals and on Kosovo.

● <B>BEIJING. </B>Washington’s envoy to North Korean nuclear talks said on Monday he saw a basis for progress, saying the Chinese government could announce a date soon for a resumption of six-party negotiations that broke off in December.

● <B>JERUSALEM. </B>Israeli leaders have chosen a new army chief to replace the general who quit last week over the July/August war with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, Israeli media reports said yesterday.

● <B>BAGHDAD.</B> The political movement of Iraqi cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr said it would end a two-month boycott of parliament on Sunday, smoothing over a rift with its Shi’ite allies in the US-backed government.

● <B>DAMASCUS. </B>Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal failed to agree on a unity government on Sunday but said talks would continue and halting bloodshed between Palestinians was their priority.

● <B>BOGOTA. </B>Six people were killed on Sunday when Colombian rebels set off explosives near a police patrol in Buenaventura city in the third serious guerrilla attack in a week, police said.

● <B>RUSSIA. </B>Russian President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday he was open to dialogue over energy but signalled Europe must respect Moscow had a right of access to outside markets.

● <B>VALACHCHENAI. </B> Sri Lankan warships and helicopter gunships beat off Tamil Tiger rebels who used about 20 boats to attack a cargo ship off the northern Jaffna peninsula on Sunday, the military said.

● <B>HYDERABAD. </B> Rescuers using fishing boats and helicopters have found dozens of bodies after their overcrowded boat sank in a river in southern India, police said yesterday. Some 58 corpses were uncovered at the weekend after the bamboo vessel, with more than 70 people on board, capsized on Thursday in the Krishna river in Andhra Pradesh state.

● <B>MOGADISHU. </B>Ethiopian troops and Somali police opened fire on Mogadishu demonstrators yesterday killing at least three in the latest violence in parts of the capital where support for ousted Islamists ran high, a witness said.