Santo Domingo  - Leonel Fernandez was inaugurated Saturday for his third term as president of the Dominican Republic in a ceremony attended by nine heads of state, who were delayed by Tropical Storm Fay, which soaked the country Saturday.

Spanish Crown Prince Felipe and presidents Alvaro Uribe of Colombia and Michelle Bachelet of Chile made it to the ceremony despite the heavy rain.

Fernandez, 54, has had a good relationship with all Latin American leaders, and the absence of the presidents of Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil stood out.

Asuncion, Paraguay  - Former Roman Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo was sworn in Friday as Paraguay's president, in a historic transfer of power after 61 years of uninterrupted rule by the conservative Colorado Party.

The centre-left Lugo, 57, was inaugurated for a five-year term, at a ceremony in front of the Congress building in Asuncion attended by a slew of international dignitaries and thousands of citizens.

New York  - UN special envoy for Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari was to leave Friday for a five-day visit to the Southeast Asian nation for talks on improving democracy in the military government there.

"Mr Gambari looks forward to returning to Myanmar to continue his consultations with the government and other relevant parties in the implementation of the good offices entrusted to the Secretary General by the UN General Assembly," UN spokesman Farhan Haq said.

Warsaw  - Poland still expects a scheduled visit from a Russian diplomat after sealing a deal on a controversial US missile defence shield to be hosted in Eastern Europe, the foreign ministry said Friday.

Poland's PAP news agency reported earlier that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had cancelled a planned trip to Poland in September after Thursday's US-Polish agreement.

Poland's Foreign Ministry has no official word that Lavrov has called off the trip, local media quoted a ministry spokesman as saying.

Nairobi/Mogadishu  - Islamic insurgents attacked the Somali president's convoy as he prepared to fly out to Ethiopia for crisis talks aimed at healing a rift with the prime minister, reports said Friday.

The BBC reported that insurgents detonated two landmines near President Abdullahi Yusuf's convoy as he travelled to the airport in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Ethiopian troops opened fire after the attack and killed five civilians, the BBC said.

Jersualem  - A star witness in the corruption trial of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has refused to be cross-examined in Israel, attorneys announced Thursday.

The Israeli lawyers for US businessman and fundraiser Morris Talansky refused to come back to Israel for the proceedings at the advice of his US lawyers.

The refusal was related to an investigation taking place in the United States into Talansky's activities.