KIEV - Ukraine was in a political standoff Thursday, with the Supreme Council refusing the president's order to disband. Pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko has called for the legislature to dissolve and for new elections to be called, RIA Novosti reported. Instead of disbanding, the Supreme Council issued an address saying Yushchenko "provokes a legal chaos in the country forcing state and self-government bodies to illegal actions," Itar-Tass reported. The legislature is awaiting a court decision ... [full story]

WASHINGTON - Israel is objecting to White House plans to sell high-tech weaponry to Saudi Arabia and other Middle East allies. Israel fears the arms sales would reduce its military superiority over its neighbors and have lobbied against it, U.S. officials told The New York Times. Former Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz is among the Israelis who have visited Washington to argue against parts of the planned sales, which, one defense industry executive told the Times, ... [full story]

DHAKA - The head of elections in Bangladesh says it will be at least 18 months before elections for a new parliament can be held. Bangladesh is currently under a military-backed caretaker government which was appointed in January when elections were to be held. Those elections were put off following widespread and prolonged protests and violence, the BBC reported. The government has also barred all political activity in the country and arrested several senior politicians ... [full story]

BELGRADE - A Serbian court Thursday upheld the 13-year-prison sentence for an ethnic-Albanian accused of warcrimes against Gypsies in the Kosovo province in 1999. The Serbian Supreme Court in Belgrade rejected as unfounded an appeal by Anton Lekai, former member of the Kosovo Liberation Army of ethnic-Albanian separatists, the Serbian news agency Beta reported. The Belgrade District Court's special chambers for war crimes sentenced Lekai in September to 13 years in jail for taking part ... [full story]

ISLAMABAD - Police in a Pakistan town reportedly are supporting Taliban-style moral policing to ban dancing, theft, music and interest-based banking. The Press Trust of India news agency reported Thursday the effort in Bannu in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province points to the growing influence of the Taliban in the area. The report said the local police district confirmed the formation of a "peace committee," which police officials are supporting to eliminate the "evils like dancing, ... [full story]

NAZARETH - The decision by Israeli troops to fire at figures along Lebanon's border last week represents a drastic change in Israel Defense Forces' policy, a report said. The Jerusalem Post reported that when the IDF troops opened fire at the shadowy figures last Thursday at the Israel-Lebanon border, the military action represented a less restrained defense policy from the military group. Thursday's instance of gunfire was the first in the region from IDF forces ... [full story]

MOSCOW - An alleged Taliban militant from Russia who once spent time in a U.S. detention center has asked officials in the Netherlands to grant him political asylum. Shamil Khazhiyev - who RIA Novosti said spent time fighting with Taliban forces -- is seeking political asylum in the Netherlands after allegedly being harassed by security forces in his native Russia, the Moscow News reported. After being arrested by U.S. forces in 2002 for his alleged ... [full story]

ABU DHABI - Kuwait's As-Siyasa newspaper claimed Wednesday the United States is planning a missile attack on Iran later this month. Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said no ground troops would be involved in the air-launched attack, which it said President George Bush would justify by citing Iran's alleged complicity in fueling conflicts in Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Lebanon and Afghanistan. The newspaper quoted sources as saying the goal of the strikes would be to trigger ... [full story]

HONG KONG - Nina Wang, one of the richest women in the world with an estimated fortune of over $4 billion, reportedly died in Hong Kong at age 70. China's official news agency Xinhua, citing a company statement, said that Wang died of illness Tuesday. It said the company gave no details but earlier reports had said she had cancer. Wang was chairwoman of ChinaChem Group and had been listed several times on Forbes' list ... [full story]

BAGHDAD - Five Iranians taken into custody at their consulate in Iraq by U.S. forces as suspected militants will meet with diplomats from Iran, reports said Wednesday. Iran's state news agency IRNA said Iraqi and U.N. negotiators arranged for the meeting, although a date was not given. The five were taken into custody on Jan. 11 in the northern city of Irbil on a raid on the consulate. U.S. officials claimed the men were using ... [full story]

LONDON - The British government has set aside nearly $1 billion to expand its security camera systems to include loudspeakers to confront offenders. The decision was based on success reported in a pilot project in Middlesbrough, where workers in a control center monitor 12 cameras and communicate directly with people on the street, the BBC reported. British Home Secretary John Reid said he planned to add the speakers to closed circuit TV systems in 20 ... [full story]

THE HAGUE - A U.N. tribunal in the Netherlands Wednesday sentenced a Bosnian Serb to 15 years in jail for war crimes including rapes of Muslim girls in 1992. The U.N. tribunal in The Hague ruled Dragan Zelenovic -- a member of the former Bosnian Serb police and military units -- was guilty of torturing and raping Bosnian Muslim women and a 15-year-old girl in the Serb-taken eastern town of Foca, during the Bosnian ethnic ... [full story]

BEIJING - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, preparing for his Japan trip, said Wednesday he wants to make the East China Sea "a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation." Speaking to Japanese reporters ahead of next week's three-day Japan trip, Wen also said China would continue to promote the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, noting a movement towards denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula was underway, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Wen said he ... [full story]