AFP 0100 GMT News Advisory

Duty Editor: Mike Patterson Tel: +852 2829 6211

-- TOP STORIES --

+ Foreign hostages feared killed in Nigeria

+ Karzai accuses US of colluding with Taliban

+ US-South Korean drills start as North rages

+ Venezuela's Capriles to run for president

Nigeria-unrest-kidnap,WRAP

LAGOS

Britain, Italy and Greece say that a claim by a Nigerian Islamist group that it had killed seven foreign hostages appears to be true, while London denies it sought to stage a rescue.

700 words moved by Cecile de Comarmond. File picture

NKorea-SKorea-US-military,WRAP

SEOUL

South Korean and US troops launch a joint military exercise as North Korea, which has slammed the drill and threatened both countries with nuclear attack, severs its hotline with Seoul.

650 words 0200 GMT by Jung Ha-Won. Graphic. Picture. Video

Afghanistan-US-diplomacy-unrest,newseries-WRAP

KABUL

President Hamid Karzai accuses the United States of colluding with the Taliban to justify its presence in Afghanistan, dumbfounding US officials during a problematic visit by the new Pentagon chief.

650 words 0230 GMT by Mathieu Rabechault. Picture. Video

Venezuela-politics-Chavez,3rdlead

CARACAS

Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles says he will run against Hugo Chavez's handpicked successor in an April 14 election, with the late leader casting a huge shadow over the campaign.

850 words 0130 GMT by Laurent Thomet. Graphic. Picture. Video

-- ASIA --

Japan-disaster-accident-nuclear-anniversary,lead

TOKYO

Japan marks the second anniversary of a ferocious tsunami that claimed nearly 19,000 lives and sparked the worst nuclear accident in a generation, with rebuilding projects stalled and tens of thousands still displaced.

650 words 0330 GMT by Antoine Bouthier. Picture. Video. Graphic

China-politics-Congress-rights,FOCUS

BEIJING

A few miles from China's National People's Congress in Beijing, citizens who have travelled from across the country to tell the government about their problems face tight controls on this age-old right.

800 words 0200 GMT by Carol Huang. Picture

-- AMERICAS --

Venezuela-politics-Chavez-mausoleum,SCENE

CARACAS

In death as in life, Venezuela's late president Hugo Chavez is courting his political base: his embalmed remains are coming soon to permanent display in an old military barracks atop a hillside slum, a huge source of local pride.

600 words 0230 GMT by Hugo di Zazzo. Picture. Video

US-crime-incident-tennis,lead

MIAMI

Former tennis World No. 1 Jennifer Capriati faces battery charges and possible arrest after being accused of stalking and punching an ex-boyfriend on Valentine's Day.

650 words moved. File picture

-- MIDDLE EAST --

Syria-conflict,4thlead-WRAP

DAMASCUS

Syrian insurgents launch a surprise dawn raid to retake a key district of the central city of Homs, as Islamists set up a religious council to administer rebel-held areas of the oil-rich east.

750 words moved. Graphic. Picture. Video

Also moving: Syria-conflict-anniversary-Assad,FOCUS

Syria-conflict-anniversary-economy,FOCUS

Syria-conflict-anniversary-refugees,SCENE

Syria-conflict-anniversary-military,FACTS

Also moved: Syria-conflict,4thlead-WRAP

-- EUROPE --

Vatican-religion-pope-RomanCatholic

VATICAN CITY

Cardinals will hold a final set of meetings on Monday before they are locked away to choose a new pope to lead the Catholic Church through troubled times.

650 words 0200 GMT. Picture. Graphic. Video

Also moving: Vatican-pope-religion-conclave-cardinals

Also moved: Vatican-religion-pope,WRAP

Britain-Falklands-Argentina-referendum,WRAP-newseries

LONDON

Falkland Islanders vote in a referendum intended to send a message to the world that they want to stay British, in defiance of increasingly bellicose claims to the territory by Argentina.

850 words 0130 GMT by Alice Ritchie. Picture. Video. Graphics

Also moved: Britain-Falklands-Argentina-referendum-factfile,FACTS

Science-health-disease-anthropology

PARIS

Scans of mummies from as long ago as 2,000 BC have revealed that ancient people also had clogged arteries, a condition blamed on modern vices like smoking, overeating and inactivity, a study says.

750 words moved by Mariette le Roux

-- AFRICA --

Kenya-vote,ANALYSIS

NAIROBI

Far from having been a handicap, Uhuru Kenyatta's indictment for crimes against humanity galvanised his supporters, giving the already formidable machinery of his coalition the edge, analysts say.

700 words 0200 GMT by Boris Bachorz. Picture

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