LOS ANGELES -- A lack of funding is crimping the testing of DNA evidence by the Los Angeles Police DepartmentThe Los Angeles Times said Friday the LAPD needs more than $9 million to clear a backlog of testing from hundreds of crime scenes even though a 2004 ballot measure established a special fund for DNA testing and analysis."It is unconscionable that victims should have to endure sexual assaults and other acts of brutality while the ... [full story]

VILNIUS, Lithuania -- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk met Friday with his Lithuanian counterpart Gediminas Kirkilas in Vilnius about building a nuclear power plant.Tusk, speaking at a news conference in Vilnius, said the joint nuclear plant project would be an energy bridge that would unify the electricity grid between Poland and the Baltic states, Polish Radio reported.Poland is to build jointly with Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia a nuclear power plant on Lithuanian territory.Tusk said this ... [full story]

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a measure Friday that suspended Moscow's role in a treaty limiting military forces in Europe.The bill passed by the Russian parliament earlier this month pertains to the 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which placed limits on the number and deployment of conventional troops along the dividing line between NATO and the old Warsaw Pact.The Itar-Tass news agency said that the breakup of the Soviet Union ... [full story]

JERUSALEM -- Israel's High Court of Justice ruled Friday the government may keep cutting fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip in the face of rising humanitarian issues.Several human rights groups petitioned the court over an Israeli decision to reduce supplies of gasoline, diesel fuel and electricity to the Gaza Strip citing humanitarian concerns, Haaretz said Friday."We were not convinced that the decision by (Israel) to limit the amount of fuel transferred to the Gaza Strip ... [full story]

RABAT, Morocco -- Female anchors and reporters who don the veil in Morocco are finding it impossible to remain in front of the camera due to a self-imposed media ban.A veiled anchorwoman fired by Moroccan radio station Casa FM says her bosses began treating her differently the minute she donned the veil, al-Arabiya reported Friday."They seemed to be embarrassed of me and stopped assigning me out-of-country work," Samia al-Maghrawy told the news agency. "To save ... [full story]

OTTAWA -- A businessman told Canadian lawmakers that Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was in need of money when he allegedly paid him $300,000 on his way out of office.Karlheinz Schrieber testified before the Commons ethics committee Thursday he was told by a lobbyist that Mulroney was in dire straits as he exited politics in 1993, and that he and Mulroney had discussed payments totaling $500,000.The CanWest News Service said Friday that Schreiber also alleged that ... [full story]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Benazir Bhutto said her party will campaign in the Jan. 8 Pakistani election on the five E's -- education, employment, energy, environment and equality.Bhutto also said that the Pakistan People's Party has not ruled out boycotting the election, the Press Trust of India reported. The opposition coalition that includes another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and a religious party, Jamaat e-Islami, have said they will not participate unless President Pervez Musharraf reinstates ... [full story]

TORONTO -- The head of the Canadian Anglican Church said efforts to split conservative members into another organization are "inappropriate, unwelcome and invalid." Primate Fred Hiltz released a statement to be read Sunday in Canadian churches, The Toronto Star reported.In the document, Hiltz "deplores" the invitation by Archbishop Gregory Venables to Canadian Anglicans who disagree with the church's position on homosexuality. Venables, a native of Britain, heads an archdiocese in six South American countries."We deplore ... [full story]

TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israel is having trouble finding places to house the increasing number of refugees from the war-torn regions of Sudan.The Israel Prison Service warned Friday that it is unable to accommodate many more refugees since its facilities are nearly filled to capacity, Haaretz reports.Prison officials say if the refugee influx continues at its current rate, all available spaces will be filled by next week.Thursday a group of 15 Sudanese refugees being transported ... [full story]

JERUSALEM -- A Palestinian official says the ruling Fatah party would join forces with rival Hamas if Israel invades the Gaza Strip."Fatah won't remain idle in the face of an Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip," the official said. "We will definitely fight together with Hamas against the Israeli army. It's our duty to defend our people against the occupiers."The official statement comes as Arab leaders lobbied for negotiations to end the conflict between Fatah ... [full story]