Kathmandu: Nepal’s Cabinet declared a ceasefire yesterday with Maoist rebels and urged them to open peace talks, Khadga Prasad Oli, the Deputy Prime Minister, said. He said that all terrorism charges would be dropped and that the Government would stop designating the Maoists as terrorists. The rebels declared a truce after protests forced King Gyanendra to restore democracy. (AP)

Darfur progress

Abuja: Sudan appears ready to agree to disarm Arab militias in Darfur and to accept more rebels into its security forces, concessions that could allow progress at the Darfur peace talks. The latest deadline for an agreement is midnight tonight. (AP)

Cannibal retrial

Frankfurt: Prosecutors demanded a life sentence for Armin Meiwes, who is being retried on charges that he killed and ate a friend whom he met over the internet. His defence called for a lighter sentence as he had followed the victim’s wishes. (AP)

Military in dock

Istanbul: Two paramilitary officers face trial for allegedly throwing a grenade into a store owned by a former Kurdish guerrilla, who chased and caught them. Turkey’s Islamic Government, at odds with the secular army, vowed to punish the guilty. (AP)

Left for dead

St Louis: Police allege that Samson Shelton, 26, a teacher who moonlights as a professional wrestler, attacked Ashley Reeves, 17, in a wood and left her for dead with a broken neck. Shelton has been charged with kidnapping and attempted murder. (AP)

Jealousy death

Bombay: Pramod Mahajan, a fiery orator and the leading strategist of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the main opposition party in India, died nearly two weeks after being shot by his younger brother in an apparent fit of jealous rage. He was 56. (AP)

Antiquities raid

Athens: Greek police found ancient artefacts, including two marble sarcophagi, during a second raid on the Paros island home of Marion True, a former curator at the Getty Museum, Los Angeles, as part of an investigation into antiquities smuggling. (Reuters)

Highway protest

Cairo: About 5,000 angry Egyptians blocked a highway on the outskirts of Cairo for two hours, burning tyres and debris, after a speeding car struck a cyclist. Police dispersed the demonstrators peacefully. The cyclist was not seriously injured. (AP)

Police fire on labour rioters

Jakarta: Security forces fired teargas and water cannon at thousands of protesters in the Indonesian capital after they threw rocks at police and tore down a gate in front of Parliament. More than 20,000 demonstrators had gathered to oppose government plans to amend a 2003 labour law, which businesses say has put off investors. Workers say that the revisions, which would make it easier to dismiss staff and curb their right to strike, would harm job security. (AP)

Taleban attacks

Kandahar: Afghan police killed four Taleban militants in fighting in the south of the country. Suspected Taleban gunmen killed a judge in the west and a car bomb exploded at the office of the governor of Nangarhar in an apparent assassination attempt. (AP)

New Fatah militia

Gaza Strip: Gunmen from the Fatah movement of the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, announced the formation of a 2,000-strong militia to counter the mobilisation of 3,000 new policemen loyal to the Hamas Government. (Reuters)

Sign of the times

Jerusalem: Thieves looking for metal to steal and sell as scrap have found a new target — brass plaques at memorials across the country that list the names of Israeli soldiers who fell near by. The military plans to replace the plaques with engraved marble signs. (AP)

Law unto himself

Manila: A Filipino judge who said that he could see into the future and consulted imaginary mystic dwarfs has appealed against his dismissal by the Supreme Court. “They should not have dismissed me for what I believed,” Florentino Floro said. (Reuters)

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