World at a glance

CAMBODIA: Cambodia's two main Opposition leaders met ruling strongman Hun Sen for crucial talks in the first face-to-face contact between...

CAMBODIA: Cambodia8217;s two main Opposition leaders met ruling strongman Hun Sen for crucial talks in the first face-to-face contact between the bitter rivals for over a year. The summit is aimed at defusing political tensions following disputed July 26 elections and easing the transition towards the new parliament. FUNCINPEC leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh and dissident Sam Rainsy, who heads his own party, have so far turned down offers of a coalition.

JAKARTA: Investigators have met ex-president Suharto over allegations THAT he amassed a fortune for himself through corruption, a newspaper reported today. The newspaper Kompas said attorney general Andi Muhamad Ghalib and senior Cabinet Minister Hartarto talked to the former leader at his family home in central Jakarta last night. 8220;The meeting was good. Suharto8217;s response was good too,8221; it quoted Ghalib as saying. An estimate by Forbes magazine put Suharto8217;s wealth at four billion dollars. Other estimates are much higher.However, in a television appearance this month he flatly denied any wrongdoing and said he did not have 8220;a cent8221; stashed away overseas.

POINTE-A-PITRE, GUADELOUPE: Hurricane Georges tore through Guadeloupe and then began pounding the Virgin Islands on Monday as forecasters warned the storm could do major damage. The US National Weather Service in Miami said the centre of the hurricane was moving toward Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, which were expected to take the full brunt of its force late Monday and early Tuesday. But warnings were dropped for islands to the east of the Virgin Islands, with the exception of Antigua and Barbuda. Communications were cut off from Antigua and Barbuda, according to the US weather service.

DHAKA: The danger faced by Bangladeshis during more than two months of devastating flooding has receded along with water levels but the task of putting their lives back together remains. Efforts intensified today to clean up the huge mess left behind as the countryemerges above the flood waters. Dhaka, a city of nine million, bustled with activity as thousands of families who had taken refuge in flood shelters began returning home. 8220;It will take weeks before the city is restored to its pre-flood position,8221; said a municipal employee.In areas which had resurfaced, workers toiled to clean up piles of garbage and debris.