Burma's military government released democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest Monday, and she left her home for the first time in 19 months. 

Hundreds of jubilant supporters cheered as Aung San Suu Kyi arrived in Rangoon at the headquarters of her National League for Democracy. 

The 56-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate did not speak to reporters as she was ushered into the building. She is expected to hold a news conference after meeting with the NLD's Central Executive Committee. 

A government spokesman announced earlier today that all restrictions on Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi's movements and activities were being lifted. 

In Kuala Lumpur, U.N. envoy Razali Ismail said this is an important beginning in Burma's national reconciliation, but more time is needed for the process. The Malaysian diplomat, who has brokered talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the military junta, says he hopes the two sides will continue negotiations to institute democracy. 

The pro-democracy leader had been confined to her home, with her telephone line cut, since September of 2000, after she tried to defy a government ban on travel outside the capital. Her release had been had been widely expected for days following U.N.-brokered negotiations aimed at ending a 12-year political deadlock. 

Freedom for the pro-democracy leader has been among the top demands of the international community, which has isolated Burma and imposed economic sanctions on the country in a bid to force political change. 

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won elections in 1990 by a landslide. But the military government has refused to hand over power, saying that too quick a transition to democracy would split the ethnically diverse country. 

Aung San Suu Kyi was originally placed under house arrest in 1989. She was released in 1995, but put under virtual house detention again in September 2000. 

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters

French voters have handed incumbent President Jacques Chirac a landslide victory over his far-right opponent, Jean-Marie Le Pen. 

With nearly 100 percent of the national vote counted, France's Interior Ministry reported Mr. Chirac closed Sunday's elections with 82.1 percent of the vote. Mr. Le Pen gathered about about 17.9 percent of the vote. 

Mr. Chirac thanked French voters for his re-election, saying the country has reaffirmed its commitment to republican values. It was the largest victory margin by any French president in the last 44-years. 

But analysts say Mr. Chirac's victory is not an indication of his support, but instead points to a rejection of the isolationist, anti-immigrant platform of Mr. Le Pen and his National Front Party. 

European leaders praised Mr. Chirac's re-election as a triumph of democracy. Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was "a defeat for extremism." 

In a victory speech, Mr. Chirac said he understood the call for change in France and promised to immediately address the issue of rising crime--a top voter concern. 

In conceding defeat, Mr. Le Pen said that President Chirac had won re-election by, what he called, "Soviet methods". 

He also called the results a defeat for the hopes of the French and predicted that Mr. Chirac's coalition will soon collapse. 

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

Germany's largest industrial union, IG Metall, has begun its first strike in seven years, to press for higher wages. 

The metal-workers' union says the first of what will be scores of one-day walkouts began late Sunday, when 2,000 employees of U.S.-German auto giant Daimler Chrysler failed to report for their overnight shift at a plant in Sindelfingen, in southwestern Germany. 

Additional strikes Monday are expected to idle 50,000 workers across Baden-Wuerttemberg state. The union says walkouts will hit more than 80 companies this week in southern Germany's industrial heartland. 

Talks with management broke down last month after IG Metall refused a 3.3 percent wage increase. At the time, the union was demanding a four-percent increase, but it has now reverted to its original call for a 6.5 percent wage increase. 

Economists say they are concerned that widespread strikes could harm Germany's economy, which has been recovering slowly from recession. 

Some information for this report provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

Israeli and Palestinian officials say negotiators are close to a deal to end Israel's siege at the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. 

Palestinian officials announced earlier that an accord had been reached with the help of U.S. and European mediators, but Israeli officials would not confirm the deal, saying only that progress had been made and talks were continuing. 

The two sides reportedly disagree on how many Palestinian militants holed up inside the church will be sent into exile, and where. 

Palestinian officials have said at least six militants would be sent to Italy, and another 30 or so to the Gaza Strip to be tried in Palestinian courts. The other nearly 100 people in the church, including clerics and civilians, would be allowed to go free. 

Signs of a breakthrough in the standoff came after U.S. and European diplomats joined negotiations on Saturday, receiving a list of those inside the church. 

Israeli security forces surrounded the church April second after nearly 200 Palestinians, some of the armed, took refuge inside when Israeli forces occupied Bethlehem. Israel says some of the Palestinians are wanted for attacks on Israeli citizens. 

A number of people have been allowed to leave the church during the siege, and several others have been killed by Israeli troops. 

Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity is built on the site where Christian tradition says Jesus was born. 

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

Iraq says it will resume oil exports suspended a month ago to protest Israel's West Bank offensive. 

In a statement broadcast on Iraqi state television, Iraq's cabinet said the exports would resume beginning at midnight Wednesday, May eighth. The statement said the decision was reached at a cabinet meeting presided over by President Saddam Hussein. 

The cabinet expressed regret that its decision to halt exports for a month had not prompted similar steps by other Arab oil producers. 

President Saddam was quoted as saying he considered the boycott a success. He said the Arab masses had expressed their support for the move, adding that this reflected the "conscience of the Arab people." The embargo took two million barrels of oil per day off world markets. But oil prices remained stable as other major producers such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait continued their exports. 

The other Arab producers argued that oil can no longer be used as a weapon to influence the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

The last time Arab nations used oil as a weapon was after the 1973 Mideast war, when reduced exports led to a global energy crisis. 

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

AP
Wing of a crashed EAS Airlines plane lies on the roof of a house in Kano, Nigeria

 A spokesman for the international relief agency said the death toll could rise as rescue workers continue digging through the wreckage of Saturday's deadly crash. The French news agency quotes a Nigerian Red Cross statement as saying the downed airliner destroyed more than 30 houses and left hundreds homeless.
 
 

AP
Wreckage of the fuselage lies amidst remnants of destroyed houses

 The cause of the crash is not known. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has promised a full investigation of the incident. President Obasanjo also has cut short a visit to southern African nations and declared a two-day period of mourning.
 
 

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.

Thousands of army soldiers are trying to retake remote villages and rescue survivors in northwestern Colombia after a week of clashes between leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries left more than 100 people dead. 

Colombian authorities say at least 107 people, including about 40 children, have been killed in the state of Choco where Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) rebels and the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia have been fighting for control. 

Authorities say FARC rebels fired homemade mortars into a church were scores of people had taken refuge. Many inside died. It is unclear if the rebels were aiming for the church. 

Refugees fleeing the violence began arriving Sunday in the provincial capital Quibdo, where President Andres Pastrana met with local officials and high-ranking military commanders. He called the killings an act of terrorism and vowed to retake the area. 

Choco is one of the poorest and most volatile regions in Colombia. Officials say the fighting in the region is for control of strategic drug trafficking routes. 

Colombia is in the midst of a 38-year civil war that involves leftist rebel groups, the paramilitaries and the Colombian government. The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead. 

Some information for this report provided by Reuters and AP.

AP
South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung File Photo

 In a statement read Monday by his chief of staff (Park Jie-won) Mr. Kim said he could not find the words to describe his apologetic feelings and he urged a thorough investigation of the scandals.

 Mr. Kim said he made the decision to leave the Millennium Democratic Party to free himself from domestic politics and concentrate on state administration during the remainder of his term, which ends next February.

 The president had resigned as head of the ruling party in November under public fire for a series of corruption scandals involving high-ranking government officials.

 Prosecutors have been investigating charges that two of Mr. Kim's sons accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from businessmen who wanted to buy favorable treatment for their companies.

 On Saturday, police arrested Kwon Ro-gam, a presidential confidant, on charges of accepting $38,000 from a businessman accused of making a fortune through stock manipulation.

 Mr. Kim himself has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
 
 

Some information for this report provided by AP.

The United Nations World Food Program, WFP, says a lack of funds has forced it to halt food rations to more than one million people in North Korea. 

The U.N. agency Sunday said it has had to make some tough choices concerning six million North Koreans who need food assistance. A WFP spokeswoman, Christiane Berthiaume, said the agency has had to stop distributing food to 675,000 adolescents in secondary school and 350-thousand elderly. 

She said the agency has been concentrating on feeding the most vulnerable people, including orphans, young children and pregnant and breast-feeding woman. 

Without new contributions, the U.N. agency says it will run out of food by July and August, and will no longer be able to provide help even to the most needy. 

Currently, the United States, South Korea and Finland are the only country's contributing to North Korean food aid. The WFP says those contributions only cover half of the needs. 

AP

 Officials say the final death toll will not be known until the triple-decker ferry is lifted from the riverbed. Government authorities say the vessel was carrying 150 passengers, but some survivors say 400 people were on board in badly overcrowded conditions.

 About 100 people were rescued by passing boats or swam to shore as the boat sank southeast of the capital, Dhaka. Survivors said some passengers were swept away, while others were trapped inside the capsized ferry.

 Bad weather and a swift current have hampered recovery efforts. Grieving relatives of missing passengers have lined the banks of the river - many anxiously awaiting word on the fate of family members.

 The government has ordered an investigation into the cause of the accident. Survivors told rescuers the boat tipped over, after it was hit by strong winds and high waves from a tropical storm.

 The ferry went down near the port of Chandpur while heading from Dhaka to the city of Patuakhali on the Bay of Bengal.

 Ferry accidents are common in Bangladesh, where the vessels are a common means of transport, and maritime safety standards are often ignored.
 
 

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.

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