Around the world: US officials hold talks with Gaddafi's representatives

COLONEL Muammar Gaddafi's representatives held face-to-face talks with United States officials in Tunisia over the weekend, a Libyan government official said, describing the meeting as a first step in opening dialogue.

A US State Department official confirmed that the meeting took place but said it was only to deliver a clear and firm message that Col Gaddafi must step down. The official said it was not a negotiating session and no future meetings were planned.

The talks came after the decision to recognise the eastern-based rebels fighting Col Gaddafi's government as the country's legitimate representatives.

Libyan spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said: "This is a first step and we want to take further steps," he said. "We don't want to be stuck in the past; we want to move forward all the time."

He described it as "a first-step dialogue" to see about repairing relations between the two countries, which he said had been damaged by misinformation.

The US was an active participant in Nato airstrikes against Libyan forces that were authorised under a United Nations mandate to protect Libyan civilians from Col Gaddafi's advancing forces.

Chavez to run for re-election

A WIRELESS electric tram, powered by strips buried in the ground for recharging, journeys through Seoul Grand Park in South Korea.

An aide to Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez says the president will run for re-election next year, despite his struggle with cancer.

Finance minister Jorge Giordani said: "There's no doubt he's going to be there in the 2012 elections, and afterward for many more years,"

Transsexual loses appeal

A MALAYSIAN transsexual who underwent sex-change surgery has lost her bid to officially change her gender, with a court ruling that a person's sex is determined at birth.

Lawyer Horley Isaacs said that the high court ruled that 26-year-old Ashraf Hafiz Abdul Aziz's surgery was merely external.

Greece deal 'attainable'

A EUROPEAN debt deal is "attainable" at an emergency EU summit on Thursday, Greece's finance minister said, signalling progress in talks over a rescue deal.

Evangelos Venizelos said that Greece is on course to reach a primary budget surplus next year, despite missing key targets so far in 2011.

"Reaching a solution is attainable because this solution does not only include Greece," Mr Venizelos said. "At issue is the euro and the resilience of the eurozone."

Majors executed over bribery

Two former vice majors in China convicted of bribery have been executed.

Xu Maiyong of Hangzhou city was convicted of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power and sentenced to death in May.Jiang Renjie of Suzhou city was convicted of bribery and sentenced to death in 2008.

Pakistan: Police say gunmen have kidnapped eight Pakistani aid workers after stopping their vehicles in the south-west of the country.

Officer Mateen Khan said the aid workers were seized today while distributing food to Afghan refugees.

United States: A 17-year-old Florida boy bludgeoned his parents to death with a hammer, then threw a party for dozens of friends while their bodies lay in the bedroom.