New York  - South Africa's Academy Award winning actress and activist Charlize Theron said Monday that a woman is raped every 26 seconds in her country, a situation she described as "quite horrific."

Appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Theron took over her new job as United Nations Messenger of Peace to lead the campaign to end violence against women.

Skopje  - The Macedonian government launched a complaint against Greece before the International Court of Justice for blocking Skopje's entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Macedonian Foreign Ministry said Monday.

"Macedonia has filed an application with the registrar of the Court to bring Greece into compliance with its legal obligations under the Interim Accord of September 13,
1995," read the statement on the ministry's website.

Berlin  - Chancellor Angela Merkel held talks Monday on the future of ailing carmaker Opel as a debate flared on the company's request for state aid.

Opel is seeking credit guarantees from Berlin to counter a financial squeeze, triggered by dwindling sales and problems with its parent company General Motors.

Taking part in the meeting at the chancellor's office were Opel chief executive Hans Demant, the head of GM's European operations Carl-Peter Forster and the head of the company's employees' council Klaus Franz.

Moscow  - Two Georgian soldiers were killed when a landmine exploded in a village near the border of the disputed region of South Ossetia, according to a statement by the Georgian Interior Ministry on Monday.

Another nine people including a ten-year-old boy were injured in the blast at around 3 pm (1100 GMT), the ministry said.

According to the statement, the soldiers were in the Georgian village of Pavali to inspect an Russian spy drone that the ministry said crashed in the border zone just hours earlier.

Lausanne, Switzerland  - Italian cyclist Riccardo Ricco has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against a two-year ban imposed on him for doping by the Anti-doping Tribunal of the National Olympic Committee of Italy (CONI) last month.

Ricco tested positive for the blood-booster CERA (Continuous Erythropietin Receptor Activator), described as third-generation EPO, after the fourth stage of the race, on July 8.

However, the 25-year-old admitted to EPO doping three days after the positive result and decided against calling for his B-sample to be tested.

Valletta, Malta  - The foreign ministers of Italy, Libya and Malta are to meet on December 5 to discuss illegal immigration and oil exploration in the waters between the three countries, it was stated Monday.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and Libyan Foreign Minister Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalgem will be meeting in Malta at the invitation of Foreign Minister Tonio Borg.

Borg told Parliament Monday this was the first time that concrete proposals had been made on the delineation of the waters for oil exploration purposes.