Steps could have been taken to stop suicide hijackers if Zacarias Moussaoui had leveled with investigators about his al Qaeda ties, a government witness told jurors Wednesday in the penalty phase of Moussaoui's trial.

India's Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi resigns as an MP after claims she holds another salaried public post.

AP - An explosion ripped through a town bazaar in southwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing one person and wounding eight, an official said.

AP - Anti-government protesters said they would escalate their campaign against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra unless he resigned by Thursday night, and the Thai leader consulted the army chief in advance of a major demonstration.

AP - Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday he will not wait years for Hamas to recognize Israel, a precondition for peace talks, and he is prepared to take unilateral steps in the meantime.

AFP - Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown was set to announce his tenth and possibly last annual budget, with mounting speculation that he could soon succeed Tony Blair as prime minister.

AFP - Thailand's snap elections will go ahead on April 2 unless the prime minister asks the king to delay them, the head of the Election Commission said.

AFP - British finance minister, Gordon Brown, was set to deliver his 10th, and possibly his last, annual budget amid increasing speculation he could replace Tony Blair as prime minister sooner than expected.

Reuters - The United States, wary of potential "crossed wires" as China steps up its involvement in Washington's traditional sphere of influence in Latin America, plans to start a dialogue with Beijing on the issue.

AFP - AIDS threatens to kill or orphan hundreds of thousands of children in the East Asia and Pacific region unless steps are taken now to protect them, according to the organisers of a conference that starts on Wednesday.

AFP - The Labour Party announced steps to make party funding fully transparent in a bid to defuse a financial row that has undermined Prime Minister Tony Blair.

AFP - Lao President Khamtay Siphandone stepped down as head of the communist party that has ruled the isolated and poverty-stricken country for more than three decades.

AP - His 3-year-old son Nicholas' first steps, the first time Liam, his newborn, smiled — Staff Sgt. Douglas Piper lived to see them. Then his scarred memory erased even those precious moments.

AP - Phillies third baseman David Bell is out indefinitely with back spasms and might miss the start of the season.

Reuters - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the leaders of Israel, Syria and Lebanon to take steps to ease tensions along Israel's northern border following reports a possible confrontation may be in the works, the United Nations said on Thursday.

AFP - More than 17,000 chickens have been slaughtered in India's western Maharashtra state in a door-to-door campaign following a new outbreak of avian flu, a state official told AFP.

AP - Ecuador's interior minister resigned Wednesday as protests over a U.S. free trade plan spread from the Andean highlands to the oil-producing southeast jungle, where police clashed with demonstrators.

AP - Demonstrators demanding Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's resignation lambasted the Thai leader with fiery speeches Tuesday, but remained peaceful as they vowed to camp in the street outside his office until he steps down.

AP - The New York Giants took additional steps to bolster their secondary Tuesday, announcing the signing of a pair of free agents, cornerback Jason Bell and safety Quentin Harris.

AFP - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is expected to visit the United States in June on his last trip to the country's top ally before he steps down in September, reports said.