Arafat balks at terms, won't go to summit
A Palestinian official says Israeli conditions, including the right to block Arafat's return, are "humiliating and ludicrous."

Bush put halt to king's return
President Bush last week pre-empted the return home of Afghanistan's exiled monarch by advising Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, that the former king, who lives in Rome, would face an attempt on his life in his native country, members of the royal family and Italian officials said Tuesday.

Bush's top tax aide is quitting
Some say his office hasn't been tough enough on corporations. He has been in office just a year.

Quake rattles Afghanistan, killing 600
SAMANGAN, Afghanistan -- An earthquake and aftershocks rocked villages built on mountainsides in northern Afghanistan's remote Hindu Kush range, causing mud-brick houses to crash down on occupants and leaving hundreds buried. About 600 people were killed, an aid official at the scene reported today. The toll, far fewer than the 1,800 initially feared dead by Afghan government officials, was based on assessments by a group of U.N. and other humanitarian agency workers who reached the hardest-hit town of Nahrin on Tuesday, said Eric LeGuin of the French aid group ACTED.

Be wary of cell phones, doctor urges
The industry says they don't cause brain cancer, but one man is waging a campaign for more research and has established a health registry on the Web.