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ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday he hoped his country and Turkey would soon sign energy deals opposed by Washington, which is exerting pressure on Tehran to give up its nuclear program.

KERBALA, Iraq (Reuters) - A roadside bomb struck a minibus packed with pilgrims bound for Iraq's holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala on Friday even as authorities deployed over 40,000 police and soldiers to avert new violence in the annual rite.

TBILISI (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday demanded Russia withdraw all of its troops from Georgia.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's envoy to NATO said on Friday that a deal struck between the United States and Poland on missile defense amid the Georgia crisis showed the system was aimed at Russia.

HARARE (Reuters) - Botswana's president will boycott a weekend summit of southern African leaders because the country does not recognize Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's re-election, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's Supreme Court denied a request on Friday by the lawyers of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to have a corruption case against him and his wife suspended after they skipped bail and went into exile.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf is ready to resign rather than face impeachment but is seeking immunity from prosecution for imposing emergency rule, a coalition government official said on Friday.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The bombing of India's embassy in Kabul last month has cast a shadow over a peace process with Pakistan, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday in a key speech in which he urged Islamabad to clamp down on terrorism.

MIDSAYAP, Philippines (Reuters) - Displaced farmers in the southern Philippines returned home to rubble and ash on Friday after fierce fighting between government troops and Muslim separatists destroyed their villages.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton will be symbolically put forward as a presidential candidate at the Democratic convention later this month even though she narrowly lost the nominating battle to Barack Obama, the two campaigns said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters are expected to jam the streets of Denver and St. Paul at the Republican and Democratic conventions in a noisy counterpoint to the parties' carefully scripted speeches.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Four people have been killed in flooding and landslides in Laos, where the Mekong river has hit its highest level in at least 100 years after several months of unusually heavy rain, officials said on Friday.

SEOUL (Reuters) - President Lee Myung-bak, stung by months of protest against his brief rule, marked South Korea's 60th anniversary on Friday with a call for a fresh start and a warning to demonstrators who have hobbled his plans for change.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attorneys for Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska urged a federal judge on Thursday to dismiss the criminal charges against him, arguing that only the Senate may discipline him for any violations of Senate rules.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan marked the 63rd anniversary of its surrender in World War Two on Friday, but Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was expected to avoid visiting a shrine for war dead seen by Asian neighbors as a symbol of Tokyo's past militarism.

HONOLULU (Reuters) - Democratic candidate Barack Obama was leaving Hawaii on Friday and hoping to return the next time as president of the United States if he beats Republican rival John McCain in November.

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - The school priest wanted to convert Andrei to Romania's Orthodox Christianity, because his school could not hire a teacher for religion classes for the 12-year-old Adventist.

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The narrow tunnel that ran beneath Sarajevo airport was people's only escape route during the longest siege in modern history, a symbol of a brutal war that split families and pitted neighbors against each other.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stepped-up international pressure and sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program are hurting its economy, making trade financing and payments difficult and discouraging foreign investment, according to an IMF report published on Thursday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan marked the anniversary of its surrender in World War Two on Friday, but Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was expected to avoid visiting a shrine for war dead seen by Asian neighbors as a symbol of Tokyo's past militarism.