AFP - SYDNEY (AFP) - Anti-whaling campaigners on Wednesday denied charges that they had harassed Japanese whalers searching for a missing crewman in Antarctic waters and said they were simply trying to help.

AFP - TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko have commemorated the 20th anniversary of their reign by visiting the tomb of war-time Emperor Hirohito.

Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's imperial family Wednesday attended a somber ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Emperor Hirohito, who was seen in the West as a symbol of the country's World War Two aggression.

Reuters - MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - Gunmen threw a grenade and opened fire outside a television news station during its evening broadcast in Mexico on Tuesday and left a message warning journalists from reporting on drug war violence.

Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese health authorities closed poultry markets for disinfecting in a province surrounding Beijing on Wednesday after a woman died of bird flu, the first such death in the country in almost a year.

AFP - LONDON (AFP) - Marks & Spencer is set to axe more than 1,000 jobs, reports said, bringing further gloom to the high street as it struggles under the weight of the downturn.

AFP - ACCRA (AFP) - Outgoing President John Kufuor, one of Africa's most respected leaders, is set to hand over to John Atta-Mills, becoming Ghana's second elected head of state to hand over to an opposition politician.

AFP - GAZA CITY, Jan 7, 2009 (AFP) - Israeli troops kept up their assault on Hamas fighters in Gaza as diplomats sought to persuade Israel to end an onslaught that has killed at least 660 Palestinians.

AFP - LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The train conductor blamed for a crash that killed 24 people in Los Angeles in September was reported to his French employers for text messaging while at work, making the company liable, a lawyer for the victims said Tuesday.

AFP - TOKYO (AFP) - Japan said Tuesday it would ask Australia and other nations to refuse port calls for refuelling by anti-whaling activists who have been dogging its whaling fleet in the Antarctic.

AFP - LONDON (AFP) - Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said in an interview Wednesday that "we are far from through" the economic downturn, a sign that he will revise his forecast that recovery will begin in mid-2009.

Reuters - SEOUL (Reuters) - Communist North Korea announced on Wednesday it will elect new delegates to its rubber stamp parliament in March, marking another step in a leadership shakeup that has already included a cabinet reshuffle.

The Canadian Press - GAZA CITY, Gaza - France and Egypt announced an initiative to stop the fighting in Gaza late Tuesday, hours after Israeli mortar shells exploded near a UN school sheltering hundreds of people displaced by the onslaught on Hamas militants. At least 30 Palestinians died, staining streets with blood.

AFP - CARACAS (AFP) - The Venezuelan government Tuesday ordered the expulsion of Israel's ambassador to Caracas to protest the Israeli military's deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip, the foreign ministry said.

AFP - JAKARTA (AFP) - A strong earthquake rattled Indonesia's West Papua province early Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said.

The Canadian Press - HARARE, Zimbabwe - More than 1,000 new cholera cases were recorded in Zimbabwe Tuesday, the UN reported, following a week in which the epidemic had showed signs of slowing.

Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Europe faced a deepening energy crunch and more sub-zero temperatures on Wednesday, with Moscow and Kiev showing little sign of a swift resolution of a pricing dispute that has slashed Russian gas supplies to the West.

AFP - LONDON (AFP) - About 800 buses bearing the slogan "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" set off on roads Tuesday in an atheist campaign responding to a set of Christian ads.

Reuters - GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Threatened by rockfalls, rescue workers called off their search for bodies on Tuesday and gave up on finding anybody alive in the rubble of a landslide in northern Guatemala that killed at least 34 coffee laborers.

AFP - WASHINGTON (AFP) - Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri called on Muslims to attack Israeli and Western targets in response to the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip in a message released online Tuesday.

AFP - SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday invited Israel for an urgent meeting to discuss security on the Egypt-Gaza border, following talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Reuters - GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli shelling killed more than 40 Palestinians on Tuesday at a U.N. school where civilians had taken shelter, medical officials said, in carnage likely to boost international pressure on Israel to halt a Gaza offensive.

The Canadian Press - BAGHDAD - Iraqi police officials say gunmen have killed a member of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's political party in a drive-by shooting in the northern city of Kirkuk.

AFP - GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) - Laurent Nkunda is still in charge of DR Congo's rebel movement and a rival who challenged his authority will be charged with "high treason", a spokesman said Tuesday as splits emerged in the movement.

AFP - CONAKRY (AFP) - Several generals forced into retirement after the coup in Guinea last month have been arrested by the military junta and three of them were still in custody Tuesday, sources in their entourage said.

AFP - CONAKRY (AFP) - Washington said Tuesday it was suspending aid to Guinea, hours after the new military junta arrested several generals it had forced into retirement after December's coup.

The Canadian Press - WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama vowed Tuesday to bar legislators' pet projects from his massive economic stimulus plan and to bring unprecedented accountability to federal spending.

The Canadian Press - WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama's Kenyan step-grandmother will be among the millions of people in Washington for the Inauguration.