THE PHILIPPINES' government started a week of negotiations with communist rebels. The two sides met in Norway with the aim of ending an insurgency that has raged across the poorest parts of the Philippines for more than 40 years. Awkwardly, the Philippine army captured an important guerrilla leader just before the start of a week-long ceasefire.
MYANMAR'S state media issued its first criticism of Aung San Suu Kyi since her release from house arrest last November. A newspaper cautioned that she and her party would "meet their tragic ends" if they persisted in supporting sanctions against Myanmar.
A judge indicted SILVIO BERLUSCONI, Italy's prime minister, on charges of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and abusing his power.
The trial is due to start on April 6th; all three judges will be women. Mr Berlusconi denies any wrongdoing.
In a referendum the Swiss voted against a proposed ban on keeping army rifles at home. Gun-ownership rates in SWITZERLAND are among the highest in the world, partly because ex-conscripts are allowed to retain army-issued weapons.
The judge who convicted MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY, a Russian oil magnate, for theft and money-laundering in December was acting under orders, said a court official. Natalia Vasilyeva, an assistant to the judge, Viktor Danilkin, said his verdict was written by Moscow city court. Mr Danilkin said the allegations were slanderous.
Several thousand TUNISIAN MIGRANTS arrived on Lampedusa, a small Italian island off north Africa. The Italian government asked for help.
Michele Alliot-Marie, FRANCE'S foreign minister, again found herself in hot water over her links to the ousted Tunisian regime. After admitting that she had taken flights on a jet owned by Aziz Miled, a businessman linked to the former president, she defended a property deal involving Mr Miled and her parents.
NYSE EURONEXT and DEUTSCHE BORSE agreed to merge. If the deal is consummated it will create the world's largest trading platform for shares and derivatives. Shareholders in the German exchange will own 60% of the new company, but senior American politicians seemed fairly relaxed about the prospect of the New York Stock Exchange being incorporated in an enterprise where it would hold a minority stake. Speculation mounted that a rival bid for either business could emerge.
CHINA officially passed JAPAN to become the world's second-biggest economy when Japan said its GDP was worth $5.5 trillion in 2010. China's amounted to $5.9 trillion.
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