Business leaders sharply called for reforms at the 2005 Russian Economic Forum, but a review of the last year suggests little has improved.

More than a decade has passed since President Boris Yeltsin was first given a seat at the table of the Naples summit of the world's most powerful countries, yet the question of whether Russia deserves membership in the Group of Eight remains contentious.

Russia has long campaigned to join the World Trade Organization, which would benefit Russian exporters by reducing barriers to foreign markets but would also open Russian markets to more foreign competition. If Russia can resolve its differences with the United States, the last major holdout, it could become a member of the 149-member trading group this year.

Hopes of a Russian title at the Monte Carlo Open were all but dashed on Tuesday as Marat Safin, Nikolai Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny were unceremoniously dumped out of the clay-court Masters Series event in the first round.

Israel's leaders on Tuesday held the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority responsible for the deadliest suicide bombing in 20 months, but stopped short of branding it an ""enemy entity"" or ordering a large-scale military operation.

Snipers held rooftop positions as masked Sunni Arab insurgents said they were gearing up for another open street battle with pro-government Shiite militiamen in Baghdad's Adhamiya district on Tuesday.

Ten thousand Romanians faced evacuation on Tuesday as rescue workers raced to fix a broken dam on the Danube before the swelling river could flood their low-lying villages.

Ciampi's announcement adds further uncertainty to Italy's political turmoil.

Like their communities, The Sun Herald of south Mississippi and The Times-Picayune of New Orleans took a beating from Hurricane Katrina.