KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Three Taliban militants were killed Saturday night as Afghan National Police (ANP) repelled their attack in Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan, an official said on Sunday.

"A group of militants attack police checkpoint in Taj Gozar area and police encountered, killing three rebels on the spot, including Taliban outfits' local commanders Mohammad Sarwar and Bay," Muhalim Juma Khan, district chief of Imam Sahib, told Xinhua.

WASHINGTON: The kerfuffle over theremarks on China’s role in South Asia has been papered over. Themisunderstanding over US denial of access to the Rana-Gilani duo to Indianinvestigators has been smoothed out. And loose ends of the nuclear deal andmilitary supplies have been hurriedly tied up.

When Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and his team land at the Andrews Air Force Base in nearbyMaryland on Sunday afternoon (early Monday in India) for the first state visitedhosted by the Obama administration, they will find a capital region that isbathed in sunshine, although there is a nip in the air that presages winter, andtrees are devoid of foliage, autumn having been swept out.

An Indonesian passenger ferry with almost 250 people aboard sank in rough waters off Sumatra island Sunday, killing at least one, police said, while a second ferry ran aground in nearby waters.

Rescue teams had found one body and rescued 97 people but high waves were making the operation difficult, said Brig. Gen. Puji Hartanto, police chief of Riau Kepulauan province. The passengers on the second ferry were all said to be safe.

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands -- Officials in Saipan have identified the gunman involved in a deadly rampage as 42-year-old Li Zhongren of China.

Police on Sunday said Li is believed to be the caretaker of the shooting range where he gunned down four people Friday, including two young children. He also wounded five South Korean visitors and a local girl at a popular tourist site before taking his own life.

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Iran plans to launch a large aerial military exercise Sunday to prepare for any possible attack, state media said.

The five-day exercise was to cover a vast area in the country's northwest, west, south and southwest, Press TV said, citing Brig. Gen. Ahmad Miqani.

Iran's regular military and its elite Revolutionary Guards were to participate in the exercise against aerial attacks, especially against Iran's nuclear plants, according to Press TV.

MELBOURNE, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Two conjoined twins separated in a 32-hour operation in Australia appear to be making a good recovery, the woman who has been caring for them says.

Guardian Moira Kelly said the girls, Trishna and Krishna, who turn 3 on Dec. 22, had not seen each other since the operation, The Brisbane Courier-Mail reported. Trishna came out of an induced coma late Friday, about 24 hours after her sister, but they are still weak.

Iran's President is scheduled to begin his tour to five countries in Africa and South America on Sunday days after the Israeli president ended a tour aimed at rallying support against Tehran.

â??Iranian President (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) will visit Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, Senegal and Gambia,â? IRINN reported on Sunday.

â??Ahmadinejad is slated to visit Gambia in the first leg of his five-day trip,â? it added.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has defended imprisoned terrorist Carlos the Jackal, saying the Venezuelan was an important "revolutionary fighter" who supported the cause of the Palestinians.

Chavez praised Carlos - whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez - during a speech Friday saying: "I defend him. It doesn't matter to me what they say tomorrow in Europe."

Ramirez gained international notoriety during the 1970s and '80s as the suspected mastermind of a series of bombings, killings and hostage dramas. He is serving a life sentence in France for the 1975 murders of two French secret agents and a suspected informant.

GAZA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 Palestinians were wounded in Israeli airstrikes on various targets in the Gaza Strip early Sunday, witnesses and medical sources said.

The first raid took place shortly after midnight, targeting a metal workshop in northeast Gaza city where five people were injured, according to the medical sources.

The witnesses said the five were passing by accident near the targeted place.

Within days of taking office in January, the former Belgian prime minister will put his weight behind controversial proposals already floated by the commission's head, José Manuel Barroso, for a new "Euro tax".

He will add credence to Mr Barroso's plans, to be formally tabled in the New Year, by arguing for a Euro-version of a "Tobin Tax" – a levy on financial transactions already floated by Gordon Brown as a solution to the international banking crisis. It would result in a stream of income direct to Brussels coffers, funding budgets that critics say are already rife with waste and overspending.

VATICAN CITY - After offering a home in his church to disaffected Anglicans, Pope Benedict XVI assured the archbishop of Canterbury yesterday that he is still committed to seeking closer relations between Catholics and Anglicans.

Archbishop Rowan Williams said he came away convinced that there was no "dawn raid'' on his church by Rome, telling Vatican Radio he wishes "every blessing'' for those who want to become Catholics.

ROME - Italian police yesterday arrested a Pakistani father and son who allegedly spent just more than $200 to set up a reliable and untraceable phone network that was used by the militants who carried out last year's terror attacks in Mumbai, India.

The two were arrested in an early morning raid in Brescia, where they ran a money transfer agency.

It was not immediately clear whether the suspects were aware of the purpose their funds had served, police in the northern Italian city said.

At least seven Palestinians have been injured in a round of Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip, Palestinian witnesses say.

They told Al Jazeera that the first raid hit a metal workshop in the Tufah district of Gaza City early on Sunday, while the second struck a workshop in Burij in central Gaza.

The Israeli army confirmed the attacks, with a spokesman saying that they were launched in response to a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is inviting his mentor Fidel Castro to visit Venezuela during the coming months.

Chavez read aloud a letter to the 83-year-old former Cuban leader during a televised speech Saturday night, saying "Venezuela awaits you." Chavez proposed that Castro visit at some point between now and April, during a congress of his socialist party.

The 83-year-old Castro has not been seen in public since undergoing a series of emergency intestinal surgeries in July 2006. He handed the Cuban presidency to his brother Raul but has continued writing essays published by state media.

President Aliyev says Azerbaijan has the full right to use force

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has warned he is ready to use force to wrest control of a disputed enclave from Armenia if last-ditch peace talks fail.

He said talks starting on Sunday in Munich were the final hope of settling the Nagorno Karabakh issue peacefully.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place in the region since it was the scene of a brutal war between the two countries in the 1990s.

JERUSALEM - The Israeli military says its aircraft have attacked two weapons-making factories and a smuggling tunnel in the Gaza Strip.

The military says the air strikes Sunday were in retaliation for rocket fire into southern Israel from Gaza a day earlier.

Later Saturday, Gaza's Hamas rulers announced that militant factions in the territory had agreed to stop firing rockets. The goal is to prevent Israeli retaliation.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is inviting his mentor Fidel Castro to visit Venezuela during the coming months.

Chavez read aloud a letter to the 83-year-old former Cuban leader during a televised speech Saturday night, saying "Venezuela awaits you." Chavez proposed that Castro visit at some point between now and April, during a congress of his socialist party.

The 83-year-old Castro has not been seen in public since undergoing a series of emergency intestinal surgeries in July 2006. He handed the Cuban presidency to his brother Raul but has continued writing essays published by state media.

Canadian woman loses benefits over Facebook photo

BROMONT, Quebec — A Canadian woman on long-term sick leave for depression says she lost her benefits because her insurance agent found photos of her on Facebook in which she appeared to be having fun.

Nathalie Blanchard has been on leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Quebec, for the last year.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday she was diagnosed with major depression and was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits from insurance giant Manulife.

BROMONT, Quebec -- A Canadian woman on long-term sick leave for depression says she lost her benefits because her insurance agent found photos of her on Facebook in which she appeared to be having fun.

Nathalie Blanchard has been on leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Quebec, for the last year.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday she was diagnosed with major depression and was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits from insurance giant Manulife.

KONSTANTINOVKA, Ukraine—Vladimir Gapor is a plumber by trade, but now he's a scavenger, prying bits of scrap steel from the ruins of his old factory and selling them for a pittance.

For others beyond this manufacturing graveyard, however, Ukraine's economic collapse has produced a potential multibillion-dollar bonanza. In an era of climate change regulation and carbon trading, Ukraine, ironically, is profiting from the smokeless smokestacks of its industrial shutdown.