• Cardinal Calls for New Pope to Defend Tradition
  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A conservative cardinal seen as a front-runner to become pope told fellow prelates on Monday they must choose a new pontiff who would defend traditional teachings and reject attempts to modernize doctrine.


• Iraq Hostage Stand-Off Dismissed as Exaggerated
  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces searched a town near Baghdad Monday for evidence of dozens of Shi'ites said to have been taken hostage by Sunni militants, a claim government officials said was exaggerated for political ends. Five brigades of Iraqi troops from the Interior Ministry's special commando unit spread out through Madaen, 25 miles southeast of Baghdad, but after hours of searching found scant evidence of any hostages or gunmen.


• Peace 'Irreversible'; India, Pakistan Soften on Kashmir
  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Declaring their peace process irreversible, nuclear rivals India and Pakistan agreed Monday to open up the militarized frontier dividing Kashmir, capping a visit to New Delhi by President Pervez Musharraf.


• Israel's Sharon Considering Delaying Gaza Pullout
  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is considering delaying a Gaza withdrawal until mid-August to avoid further angering settlers during a Jewish mourning period that marks the destruction of two biblical temples, officials said Monday.


• Japan, China Meet, Leave Relations in Free Fall
  BEIJING (Reuters) - Japan and China held talks in Beijing Monday but failed to halt a free fall in ties after a third weekend of demonstrations in China against what many see as Japan's inability to face up to its wartime past.


• Sex Offender Charged in Murder of Florida Girl
  MIAMI (Reuters) - A registered sex offender was charged on Sunday with the murder of a 13-year-old Florida girl who had been missing for nearly a week, police said.


• Lugar: Bolton Nomination Likely to Pass Committee
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New allegations of bureaucratic bullying are unlikely to change minds on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations committee over whether to confirm John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the Republican chairman said on Sunday.


• Finance Chiefs Agree More Aid Needed
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings closed on Sunday with a broad sense that more aid is needed to help poor nations, but with donors still haggling over numbers and the best approach.


• Taliban Return to Afghanistan's Air Waves
  KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban guerrillas launched a clandestine radio station on Monday, broadcasting anti-government commentaries and Islamic hymns from a mobile transmitter.


• Oil Hits Eight-Week Low, Funds Retreat
  LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices extended a losing streak on Monday, striking an eight-week low under $50 a barrel as growing supplies outweighed worries of rising global demand.