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KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Religious authorities in Nepal have begun the search for a girl who could be as young as three or four to serve as the new Kumari, or the virgin "living goddess", in a centuries-old tradition.

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea and Japan have agreed terms for a new investigation into Pyongyang's abduction of Japanese people in the 1970s and 1980s, officials said, opening the way for Tokyo to lift some travel sanctions.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A white powder was found in a parliament building housing the offices of New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark on Wednesday, prompting a partial evacuation.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Wednesday he was still committed to power-sharing negotiations after three days of talks with President Robert Mugabe broke off without a deal.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected an Israeli peace proposal because it does not provide for a contiguous Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, Abbas's office said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co executives, who discussed revised guidelines for a $35 billion refueling aircraft competition with U.S. defense officials on Tuesday, remain discouraged about Boeing's prospects for the work, said a defense analyst and another source briefed on the talks.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has canceled a naval exercise with Russia in protest over Moscow's military operations in Georgia, a senior U.S. defense official said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Republican Leader John Boehner on Tuesday urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call lawmakers back into session to pass a bill expanding drilling in federal waters, now that she was willing to permit a vote on such a measure.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A sizable percentage of New Jersey voters disapprove of Gov Jon Corzine, partly due to his plan to "monetize" the Turnpike, and he now faces a dead heat in a race with a possible Republican gubernatorial candidate, a new poll said on Tuesday.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Three men and a woman were killed in an attack at an ice cream parlor in the German town of Ruesselsheim near Frankfurt on Tuesday, police said.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California may need to increase its spending on education by more than $3 billion to implement a new algebra requirement urged by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state's top school official said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russian integration into international institutions such as the World Trade Organization is at stake because of Moscow's military operations in Georgia, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.

TBILISI (Reuters) - Russia prepared in advance for an invasion of Georgia, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matt Bryza told journalists after flying into Tbilisi on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush still thinks a world trade deal is possible despite a major setback last month and will continue pushing to get one, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said on Tuesday.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - International peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region look set to receive substantial reinforcements after months of under-manning, the U.S. envoy to Sudan said on Tuesday.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An internal U.N. investigation has found evidence that some Indian peacekeepers may have engaged in "sexual exploitation and abuse" in Congo, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Two dozen students and parents heading for a health check-up died in China's far northwest on Tuesday when their bus flipped over, Xinhua news agency reported.

SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni tribesmen abducted a French-Algerian man on Tuesday to press for the release of jailed relatives, a provincial government source said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday urged Russia and Georgia to end hostilities, saying progress apparently had been made toward a ceasefire but it was important that all parties stop fighting.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former U.S. Justice Department officials who improperly used political criteria in hiring decisions for career lawyers and immigration judges will not be prosecuted, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said on Tuesday.