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