WORLD at 0400 GMT

NEW THIS DIGEST:

BRITAIN-AIRLINER PLOT. Men accused of plotting to down US airliners with bombs face trial.

AL-QAIDA-ZAWAHRI QUESTIONS. Zawahri says al-Qaida does not kill innocents

FRANCE-ART MARKET. France, challenged by China, pitches plan to save faltering art market.

US-GLOBAL AIDS. US House approves $50 billion to fight AIDS, other diseases.

ARGENTINA-FARMBELT REBELLION. Farmers suspend strike over export tax hike.

US-GREENHOUSE GASES. 18 U.S. states sue federal government over global warming

AUSTRALIA-CROCODILE HUNTER-FAMILY. Widow of late television star Steve Irwin denies a family rift.

TOP STORIES:

KOREAS-TENSION

SEOUL, South Korea _ South Korea's president expresses regret over North Korea's latest provocations in his first comments on rising tensions on the Korean peninsula stemming from his tougher stance on the North.

ZIMBABWE-ELECTIONS

HARARE, Zimbabwe _ President Robert Mugabe's party has lost its parliamentary majority, according to official results, bolstering opposition claims that hundreds of thousands of impoverished Zimbabweans voted for change in weekend elections. Moved. By Angus Shaw. AP Photos.

NATO-SUMMIT

BUCHAREST, Romania _ France and Germany appear certain to thwart a drive from U.S. President George W. Bush to place the strategically important Black Sea states of Ukraine and Georgia on track for NATO membership at a tense alliance summit. Moved. By Paul Ames. Summit resumes at 0530 GMT.

CHINA-TIBET

BEIJING _ Unrest was reported among Muslims in China's far west, a headache for Beijing as it tries to squelch Tibetan protests and another sign that neither investment nor repression has ended anti-government feeling in the hinterlands. By Christopher Bodeen. AP Photos.

WITH: CHINA-ACTIVIST TRIAL

BRITAIN-AIRLINER PLOT

LONDON _ Eight British men accused of planning to bomb airliners bound for the United States and Canada were due to stand trial. At the time the men were arrested, police said the alleged plot could have caused mass murder on an unimaginable scale. Moved. By David Stringer. Prosecutor expected to open case at around 0930 GMT.

AL-QAIDA-ZAWAHRI QUESTIONS

CAIRO, Egypt _ Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri has responded to criticism about the organization's notoriously brutal tactics, maintaining that it does not kill innocents. also addressed the issue of al-Qaida's founder, Osama bin Laden, assuring supporters that the reclusive leader was in good health. Moved. By Paul Schemm.

FRANCE-COLOMBIA-HOSTAGE

PARIS _ France, Spain and Switzerland launch a delicate mission to help an ailing hostage held by Colombian rebels, the French president's office announced. Officials have been tightlipped about details. By Jenny Barchfield. AP Photos.

US-ELECTIONS

WASHINGTON _ Barack Obama has notched three key endorsements, and a new poll shows him narrowing rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's lead in Pennsylvania's hard-fought primary contest, a pivotal race in the Democratic presidential nomination. Moved. By Steven R. Hurst. AP Photos.

IRAQ

BAGHDAD _ Iraqi soldiers rolled through a Shiite militia stronghold in Basra drawing scattered bombs and bullets that wounded a camera operator for a U.S.-funded TV station and narrowly missed the commander of government troops in the city. Moved. By Robert H. Reid. AP Photos.

US-GLOBAL AIDS

WASHINGTON _ The U.S. House of Representatives voted more than $10 billion (6.4 billion) a year Wednesday for U.S. spending on fighting AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, mainly in Africa. A Democratic lawmaker said history will remember Republican President George W. Bush for the program. By Jim Abrams. Moved.

AUSTRALIA-CROCODILE HUNTER-FAMILY

BRISBANE, Australia _ The widow of late television star Steve Irwin denies a family rift, but the father of the khaki-clad "Crocodile Hunter" says he quit the clan's conservation park because he was becoming a "disrupting influence." By 0500 GMT

WITH: AUSTRALIA-CROCODILE ATTACK

ARGENTINA-FARMBELT REBELLION

GUALEGUAYCHU, Argentina _ Argentine farmers rebelling over soaring export taxes on their crops suspended a three-week-long strike that has stripped grocery shelves of beef and produce, granting Cristina Fernandez a reprieve in the first major crisis of her presidency. Moved. By Debora Rey. AP Photos.

FRANCE-ART MARKET

PARIS _ In France, art buyers may soon get interest-free bank loans _ part of a plan to revive France's stagnant art market, which fell behind China last year on a ranking of the world's biggest players in the field. By Angela Doland.

US-GREENHOUSE GASES

BOSTON _ Officials of 18 states are taking the U.S. environmental agency back to court to try to force it to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that rebuked the Bush administration for inaction on global warming. By Jay Lindsay.

BUSINESS & FINANCE:

CHINA-US-TRADE

BEIJING _ Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calls for closer U.S.-Chinese cooperation on energy conservation and for Beijing to cut import duties on environmental technology. By Business Writer Joe McDonald. AP Photo.

US-BERNANKE-CONGRESS

WASHINGTON _ Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said a recession is possible and policymakers are "fighting against the wind" in trying to steady a shaky U.S. economy. He would not say if further interest rate cuts are planned. Moved. By Economics Writer Jeannine Aversa.

ECUADOR-CHEVRON

QUITO, Ecuador _ A court-appointed expert has recommended that Chevron Corp. pay up to US$16 billion (10 billion) for allegedly polluting the Ecuadorean Amazon. Chevron called the expert biased, and the trial a farce. By Jeanneth Valdivieso.

JAPAN-LEHMAN LAWSUIT

TOKYO _ Fake business cards, impostors at meetings and forged documents stamped with the company seal are behind what appears to be an elaborate scam that Lehman Brothers in Japan alleges bilked it of millions of dollars in vanished investment money. Moved. By Yuri Kageyama. AP Photos.

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