World News

U.S. officials say the Bush administration is expected to ask Congress to approve a major arms sale package for Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf nations, partly to counter Iran's rising influence in the region.

Two weeks before the US space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to lift-off, the US space agency NASA says a piece of equipment that was to fly on the mission was deliberately sabotaged. And as if that weren't enough, there were reports Thursday that astronauts flew while drunk.

A total of 17 contenders, nine Republicans and eight Democrats, are running for president in 2008. The bulk of media attention has focused on the better-known candidates with names like Clinton, Obama, Giuliani and McCain. Jim Malone reports on some of the other contenders clamoring for attention in a crowded field of White House hopefuls.

While Hillary Clinton remains the favorite for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination next year, Republicans are still searching for a frontrunner at this early stage in the 2008 election process.

The House of Representatives Financial Services Committee Tuesday heard from economists who agreed the weakening dollar is likely to decline further.

In several weeks there will be a Presidential election in France which will end the 12 year reign of Jacques Chirac. It looks to be a close and interesting race, and the first round of voting is on April 22. Here is a brief look at the top four candidates in the polls.

Last week, the Bush administration announced a plan to send U.S. inspectors to check trucks in Mexico that would then be allowed to cross over the border and deliver loads anywhere in the United States. This would be a pilot program, but the eventual goal is to open the border to more such traffic as called for by the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. The Teamsters Union and highway safety groups in the United States are among those opposing the plan.

Before a Congress now dominated by his political opponents, Mr. Bush urges cooperation in annual 'State of the Union' address.

The British Coast Guard is keeping close watch on a crippled freighter leaking oil into the English Channel off southwest England.

The Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) quotes a lawmaker as saying that Iran has barred 38 UN nuclear inspectors from entering the country.

A Russian general says placing elements of a U.S. anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic would be a "clear threat" to Moscow.

More than 100 Iranian intellectuals and activists have issued a statement condemning a conference in Iran last month that questioned the existence of the Holocaust.

Veteran Stephane Peterhansel won his ninth rally title, his third win in an automobile, a Mitsubishi. He has won the motorcycle crown six times. This year that title went to his countryman Cyril Despres.

Leading Democrats in Congress say they will push ahead with a resolution opposing President Bush's plans to boost U.S. troop strength in Iraq. Administration officials and some Republican members of Congress say such a vote would send the wrong message to America's military - and to anti-democratic forces in Iraq.

An unmanned Russian cargo spacecraft has docked at the International Space Station after a journey from Earth.