Stock Values

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A well-known Australian Muslim cleric has called for the beheading of Dutch anti-Islamic politician Geert Wilders, a newspaper said on Friday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Striking South African state workers held small-scale protests on Friday as union and government negotiators prepared for bargaining next week aimed at ending the three-week walkout by about 1.3 million.

KANDAHAR CITY, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Militants operating out of safe havens in Pakistan remain a major threat to Afghanistan but cooperation between NATO-led forces and the Pakistani military is increasing, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday.

VIENNA (Reuters) - The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog invited Israel last month to consider joining a global anti-nuclear arms pact but the Jewish state has dismissed the idea as a politically-motivated drive by Arab states.

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber struck a rally in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing up to 43 people in the second major attack this week, piling pressure on a government struggling with a flood crisis.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - One of three independent MPs needed by Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard to form a minority government hinted on Friday he could negotiate on Labor's mining profits tax he has previously opposed.

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan is expected to hold off on easing monetary policy next week but is gearing up for further action in October as the strong yen threatens to derail its forecast of a moderate economic recovery, sources said.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran would retaliate by striking Israel's nuclear facility if Israel attacked its nuclear activities, armed forces chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi said on Friday.

SURBAKTI (Reuters) - An Indonesian volcano that lay dormant for 400 years erupted yet again on Friday, shooting a mushroomed-shape plume of smoke 3 km (2 miles) into the air and prompting the second evacuation of terrified residents.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - At least 25 suspected drug gang members were killed in an army raid in rural northeastern Mexico on Thursday, the army said in a press release.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to a series of direct talks on Thursday, seeking to forge the framework for a U.S.-backed peace deal within a year and end a conflict that has boiled for six decades.

LISBON (Reuters) - A Portuguese court will render its verdict Friday in one of the country's highest profile legal cases, a shocking story of alleged child abuse at a state orphanage that has gripped the nation for over half a decade.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Armed men abducted and held the cousin of the owner of Mexico's top broadcaster, Televisa, for four hours on Thursday in one of the hotspots of the country's drug war, local media reported.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's electoral commission said Thursday it had produced a final voter list for the first time, raising the chance that an election which has been delayed six times in five years might go ahead.

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund will give Pakistan $450 million in emergency flood aid, providing some relief for a government overwhelmed by the disaster and facing renewed militant violence.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Attackers smashed windows and damaged security cameras at the home of Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karoubi, his website said Thursday, ahead of a rally authorities fear could reignite anti-government protests.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's government sought to avert a run on the country's top private bank by nervous investors after directors at Kabulbank resigned, ostensibly to meet new rules but also amid media allegations of graft.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned on Thursday an air strike by NATO-led forces which he said killed 10 election campaign workers, although U.S. officials maintained it was aimed at an Islamist leader.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Armed and masked Russian police raided an opposition magazine on Thursday, pressing journalists to hand over interview recordings used in reports on alleged abuse of authority by the much-feared OMON riot police.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Striking South African state workers staged a protest march on Thursday after rejecting a revised wage offer aimed at ending their three-week strike that has the government and the labor movement at loggerheads.