UK-World Summary

Ukraine's Tymoshenko girds to contest result

KIEV - Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko launched action on Tuesday to call rival Viktor Yanukovich's election as president into question. A local newspaper quoted Tymoshenko as saying she "will never recognise" Yanukovich's victory in Sunday's election and her supporters in parliament announced organised action to try to prove "cynical" fraud by the rival camp.

Sri Lanka president dissolves parliament, calls poll

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's newly re-elected President Mahinda Rajapaksa dissolved parliament with effect from Wednesday and called legislative elections, a senior government official said. "The president dissolves the parliament with effect from midnight today," said a senior government official.

NATO frustration as Afghan police flunk drug tests

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan - When British trainers administered random drugs tests to 25 Afghan police recruits at a base in southern Helmand province, most of them failed. One recruit was kicked out of the force. The others were given warnings.

U.S. wants Iran sanctions in weeks;embassies attacked

TEHRAN - The Pentagon said on Tuesday that the United States wanted a U.N. Security Council resolution "within weeks" to tackle Iran's nuclear programme as Iran said it had begun making higher-grade nuclear fuel. The Islamic Republic, which denies its programme has military aims, defied the international community by announcing on Sunday that it would enrich uranium to 20-percent purity for a Tehran reactor making medical isotopes for cancer patients.

Luxury Mexican drug rehab clinic lures U.S. addicts

MONTERREY, Mexico from Texas.

Pilot error behind Ethiopian jet crash - source

BEIRUT - Pilot error caused the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane off the coast of Lebanon last month which killed all 90 people on board, a source familiar with the investigation into the accident said Tuesday. "The investigation team has reached an early conclusion that it was pilot error, based on the information from the black box," the source told Reuters.

Russian tycoon says ex-spy murder claim "outrageous"

LONDON - Exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky said on Tuesday it was outrageous to claim he was responsible for the death of his friend Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent who was murdered in London in 2006. Berezovsky was appearing at London's High Court where he is suing the Russian state-owned TV channel RTR Planeta over a claim he was behind the murder of Kremlin critic Litvinenko, who was poisoned with polonium-210, a rare radioactive isotope.

Moscow says U.S. missile shield aimed at Russia

MOSCOW - Russia's top general said on Tuesday U.S. missile defence plans are directed against Russia and differences over the issue are holding up an arms treaty with Washington, Russian news agencies reported. The remarks revived questions about the chances for an agreement soon on a successor to a Cold War-era nuclear weapons reduction treaty that expired in December.

Sudan, Chad agree "definitive end" to proxy wars

KHARTOUM - Sudan and Chad agreed on Tuesday to end their proxy wars and engage in direct talks and joint development projects to rebuild their war-affected border areas. Chadian President Idriss Deby made a surprise visit to Khartoum for talks with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir after relations between the oil producers had hit rock bottom with each capital backing rebels fighting the other's government.

Protests flare in restive South African township

JOHANNESBURG southeast of Johannesburg, a crowd of up to 1,000 people protesting against squalid living conditions burnt tyres and barricaded roads before attacking municipal buildings.