DOHA (AFP) - Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said on Saturday his movement is awaiting an official Israeli response to a truce offer in the Gaza Strip, even though Israel has already poured cold water on it.

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's main opposition movement has won a historic victory over President Robert Mugabe's ruling party, official results showed on Saturday, but the outcome of the presidential vote remained unknown.

NOVO-OGARYOVO (AFP) - Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda joined Russia's leaders on Saturday in praising improved ties and pledging to further negotiations over the disputed Kuril Islands.

DHARAMSHALA (AFP) - Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has been pushing for talks with China on the future of his homeland for years but now is making clear they must be "serious discussions".

GAZA CITY (AFP) - The teenage daughter of a Hamas chief was killed and eight people wounded in a dawn Israeli air raid on the Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials and Hamas said on Saturday.

We have recommended that if a women or a minor is raped by a policeman or at a hospital, then the provision of punishment should be more strict," NCW chairperson Girjia Vyas said. She was reacting to yesterday's incident in

Jack Schofield: Analysts suggest that, at some unspecified point after 2011, Windows could collapse under its own weight

Andrew Brown: I had to help a friend buy a new computer the other day, which meant escorting her around the Apple store. Since she is on broadband and knows nothing about internet security, it was the obvious thing to

Bobbie Johnson: For all of Microsoft's chest beating about internet delivery we've seen little in the way of action

Leader: At prime minister's questions, Gordon Brown no longer appeared indifferent to the working poor

Kathryn Hughes: Technological leaps were once shared experiences, but today's rapid changes are strictly personal

Leader: Wives' tales are sometimes true, but most are false

Keith Stuart: Our readers are more likely to make sacrifices elsewhere than give up buying games

Two women who were walking near the Cermak-Chinatown Red Line station on the city's South Side were declared dead on the scene and 21 people were taken to area hospital, fire department officials said.

The decision to strike was the result of the vote made Friday, wherein only 35 percent of the union's 9,000 members accepted the offer of a 3 percent salary hike every year for the next three years and full pay

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Microsoft's unwanted courtship of Yahoo hits a critical point Saturday as a deadline arrives for the struggling Internet pioneer to accept the software giant's 44.6 billion dollar takeover offer.

LONDON (AFP) - A North Sea pipeline which supplies around 40 percent of Britain's oil and gas will shut down within the next 24 hours because of a strike by refinery workers, operator BP said Saturday.

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranian conservatives won a big majority in parliament after two rounds of elections, according to final results Saturday, but the chamber could still prove critical of controversial President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

NAGANO (AFP) - Protesters hurled rubbish and flares Saturday at the Beijing Olympic torch and brawled with Chinese supporters in a chaotic Japanese leg of the troubled round-the-world relay.