Japan's finance minister, Koji Omi, Monday said a continuing U.S. presence in Asia is critical for economic development and stability in the region. VOA's Barry Wood reports Omi spoke at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Bush administration says it supports the effort by New Mexico state Governor Bill Richardson to persuade Sudan to drop its objection to new peacekeeping troops for Darfur. State Department officials say Sudanese leaders have sounded more conciliatory on the issue in recent days, but that the United States is not dropping a threat of punitive action against Khartoum. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

A U.S. gunship late Monday attacked one, possibly two, suspected al-Qaida hideouts in southern Somalia. The American air strike is reported to have targeted several operatives involved in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in east Africa. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu has details from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi.

OPEC is under pressure to cut oil production. Dramatic changes could bring new developments around OPEC.

The White House has confirmed that U.S. President George W. Bush will nominate the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, to be the U.S. representative to the United Nations.

The war of words is heating up in Washington ahead of U.S. President George W. Bush's expected unveiling this week of a new strategy for Iraq.

The resolution on recognition of the Armenian Genocide will be most probably adopted by April 24 of the current year.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and other top commissioners are heading to Washington D.C. to urge the Bush Administration to make compromises necessary to successfully conclude the stalled Doha Round of world trade talks. Teri Schultz reports from Brussels.

President Bush is putting the finishing touches on a revised strategy for Iraq. There are indications he will call for a major short-term troop increase, as well as money for a massive job-training program. But as VOA White House Correspondent Paula Wolfson reports, there is growing skepticism on Capitol Hill.

Officials say a huge avalanche in the western U.S. state of Colorado has buried at least two cars on a busy mountain highway and may have sent others tumbling over the edge of the road.

A Moroccan man convicted as an accessory to murder in the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States has again claimed his innocence.

A team of U.S. aviation experts is in Indonesia to help investigate a missing Indonesian passenger jet that vanished from radar screens Monday during rough weather.