TOP STORIES
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BANGKOK - Thailand's powerful military accepted on Monday a stunning election victory by the party of fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, adding to a new sense of stability in a country plagued by unrest since his ouster in a 2006 coup.
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TRIPOLI - The Libyan government said on Monday it was in talks with opposition figures but there seemed little chance of a swift end to the conflict as both sides stuck to entrenched positions on the fate of Muammar Gaddafi.
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ATHENS - Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's cast new uncertainty on Monday over euro zone efforts to rescue debt-crippled Greece by warning it would treat a French bank plan for a rollover of privately-held debt as a default.
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AMMAN - Syrian troops stormed houses in Hama on Monday as thousands of people took to the streets shouting "God is greatest", in the city which saw huge protests last week against President Bashar al-Assad, residents said.
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CARACAS - Venezuela's ever-theatrical President Hugo Chavez made a surprise homecoming on Monday after cancer surgery in Cuba and declared himself "fine" despite speculation he may still require lengthy treatment.
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PARIS - France's Socialist Party said on Monday it was unlikely its erstwhile star Dominique Strauss-Kahn would enter the 2012 presidential race, despite the weakening of the sex assault case against him in New York.
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THE HAGUE - Ratko Mladic was ejected from the courtroom at the U.N. war crimes tribunal on Monday after the former Bosnian Serb commander heckled the judge when he read out a charge of genocide and entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
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ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan army said on Monday it had launched an air and ground offensive in Kurram region on the Afghan border, its first major military operation since the May 2 killing of Osama bin Laden.
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ADDIS ABABA - Leaders of north and south Sudan agreed on Monday to continue talks on a series of disputes after the south's impending secession, officials said -- a move that will disappoint Western countries hoping for a quick deal.
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BRUSSELS/SEOUL - The European Commission said on Monday it would give 10 million euros (${esc.dollar}14.54 million) of food aid to North Korea in the face of opposition from South Korea and U.S. doubts about the North's pleas for help.
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SAO PAULO - A new corruption scandal and a top minister's remark that he is surrounded by "idiots" have further strained President Dilma Rousseff's ruling coalition and cast more doubts on her frozen legislative agenda.
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WASHINGTON - Hackers took control of a FoxNews.com Twitter account on Monday and sent six false tweets saying that U.S. President Barack Obama had been shot dead, prompting an investigation by the Secret Service. (Editing by Michael Roddy)
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