Ukraine's parliament has started a special session that should put an end to months of political instability by electing a prime minister and other Cabinet members. Viktor Yanukovych, the head of the pro-Russian Party of Regions, which leads a majority coalition in the Supreme Rada, received President Viktor Yushchenko's backing Thursday for his nomination as prime minister. A total of 229 out of 449 Rada deputies should vote for his candidacy to be approved

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said today he is nominating his former Orange Revolution foe, Viktor Yanukovych, for prime minister, insisting the decision would help unite the divided nation but acknowledging it might cause confusion. The decision ends four months of political uncertainty sparked by parliamentary elections in which no party won a majority

It appears that the island of Sri Lanka is now well on its way to a civil war, leading many observers to go so far as to call the country a beleaguered nation. Since December escalating violence has seriously frayed the 2002 truce between the government and the Tamil Tigers, who are fighting for a separate state for Tamils in the north and east of Sri Lanka

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said on Thursday that over 900 people had been killed in Israel's over-three-week-old offensive against Hezbollah. Siniora also said in a video statement to a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) that about 3,000 people had been wounded. A third of the casualties were children under 12, said Siniora, adding that 1 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon's population, had been displaced in the violence

Iran reacted angrily yesterday to a UN Security Council resolution ordering the Islamic country to freeze sensitive nuclear work by the end of the month. UN Resolution 1696, which dangles the threat of sanctions unless Iran halts uranium enrichment and other work that could help build a nuclear bomb, was welcomed by the US and its allies but decried as "destructive and totally unwarranted" by Iran's UN ambassador

Bombings and shootings killed more than 68 people yesterday in a surge of violence as U.S. forces prepare to take back Baghdad's streets from insurgents. The dead included 20 Iraqi troops killed in a bus attack and a British soldier who died in a mortar barrage. Also yesterday, the U.S. military announced an American soldier died the day before when a roadside bomb struck a supply convoy south of the capital

China slaughtered 50,000 dogs in a government-ordered crackdown after three people died of rabies, sparking unusually pointed criticism in state media yesterday and an outcry from animal rights activists. Health experts said the brutal policy pointed to deep weaknesses in the health care infrastructure in China, where only 3 percent of dogs are vaccinated against rabies and more than 2,000 people die of the disease each year

Tamil Tiger rebels launched a heavy mortar attack against Sri Lanka's main naval facility in the northeastern port of Trincomalee today damaging at least one gunboat, officials said. At least 18 mortar bombs exploded within the naval compound next to the main Trincomalee harbour, the military officials said, adding that there were no immediate reports of casualties

At least 44 people were killed Tuesday in Iraq's spiraling violence, including 20 soldiers whose bus was blasted by a roadside bomb and 14 who perished in a car bomb attack in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood. The military bus was carrying about 35 Iraqi soldiers when it was hit by the bomb early Tuesday in Ruwashyid village, about 150 miles north of Baghdad, said a police captain who spoke on condition of anonymity. The captain said 20 soldiers were killed and 13 were injured

A lesbian couple vowed yesterday to battle on to have their marriage recognised in Britain. Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson wed in 2003 in Vancouver, Canada, where same-sex marriages are legal. But the High Court in London yesterday refused to declare their marriage legal in this country. Sir Mark Potter, President of the court's Family Division, said the couple faced "an insurmountable hurdle" as English law defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman