Court rejects Anwar's appeal: Malaysia's highest court on

Court rejects Anwar's appeal: Malaysia's highest court on
Wednesday dismissed a last-ditch attempt by jailed politician
Anwar Ibrahim to have his corruption conviction overturned in a
case he insisted was politically-motivated. Chief Justice Mohamed
Dzaiddin Abdullah, who heads a three-man Federal Court appeal
bench, said there was no "mistrial of justice" in the high
court's decision to convict and sentence him to six years in
1999. -- AFP

Sixty million Africans face hunger, disease: Some 60 million
people in southern Africa are facing hunger, disease and death
because of a health and humanitarian crisis due to drought and
political instability, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
David Nabarro of the World Health Organization (WHO) told a news
conference that the WHO and other UN bodies estimated some
300,000 people could die in the next six months. -- Reuters

Violence continues in Gaza Strip: An Israeli army officer was
fatally wounded when Palestinian militants opened fire on his
unit in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, while a Palestinian teenager
was killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank. Captain Haim Lev,
24, was rushed to hospital by helicopter after the shooting near
Rafah, hard by the border with Egypt, but succumbed to his
injuries, an army spokesman said. -- AFP

Pakistan sets elections for Oct. 10: Pakistan's military
government will hold parliamentary elections on Oct. 10, state
television reported on Wednesday. It said the elections for the
National Assembly (lower house), the Senate (upper house) and the
four provincial assemblies would be held on the same day. The
announcement came after President Pervez Musharraf chaired a
meeting of his cabinet. Musharraf took power in a bloodless
military coup in October 1999, sending Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif into exile and dissolving parliament. -- Reuters

UNSC opens public debate over ICC: The UN Security Council on
Wednesday opened its public debate into the U.S. demand that its
peacekeepers be immune from prosecution in front of the newly-
launched International Criminal Court (ICC). Canada's ambassador
to the world body, Paul Heinbecker, asked that the session be
convened and was the first to take the floor in the debate that
will likely underscore the increasing U.S. isolation from its
traditional Western allies. -- AFP