BEIJING (Reuters) – A Chinese activist working to help those displaced by the giant Three Gorges Dam and left paralyzed after a beating last month, inflicted the injuries on himself, a rights group cited a police investigation as showing.

KABUL (Reuters) – NATO has approved plans to take charge of security responsibilities in Afghanistan’s volatile south in what will likely be one of its most testing missions ever, a spokesman said on Thursday.

MAITA, Congo (Reuters) – “Vote on Sunday! Vote on Sunday!” men shout at villagers from aboard a 50-foot wooden canoe as it glides along the vast Congo river, packed high with boxes of voting ballots and red plastic tables and chairs.

Tire, Lebanon (Reuters) – Car after car races north along the coastal road toward Lebanon’s capital Beirut. Each vehicle is adorned with white: white flags, white T-shirts, white sheets, white plastic bags, white rags.

KABUL (Reuters) – All 16 people aboard a helicopter, including several foreigners, were killed in Wednesday’s crash in rugged mountain terrain in southeastern Afghanistan, U.S.-led coalition forces said. The cause of the crash was not known, but it took place in an area where insurgents are active. At least two …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pakistan must provide written security assurances as part of a deal for $5.1 billion in American-made F-16 fighter jets and no equipment will be transferred until anti-diversion protections are in place, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has promised Congress.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Kaemi have killed at least 18 people and left more than 60 missing in southern China, state media said on Thursday.

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s air force bombed Tamil Tiger rebel territory in the island’s east for a second day on Thursday amid a spat over water supplies, a military source said, but there were no details on casualties.

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed 23 Palestinians in fighting across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including at least 11 militants, three children and a handicapped man, medics and witnesses said.

PARIS (Reuters) – The families of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbollah guerrillas appealed to the French government on Wednesday to use its contacts with Lebanon to help bring their sons home.