Prague  - Czech President Vaclav Klaus Friday signed into law a bill that bans the media from publishing information from leaked police wiretaps, his office said.

The legislation was seen as a breach of media freedom.

The disputed penal code amendment, passed at a time when the Czech Republic chairs the European Union, allows courts to punish publication of information from leaked wiretaps by up to five years in prison.

Wiretap technology allows police to listen in on electronic communications in suspected criminal cases.

Najaf, Iraq - Followers of firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Friday suggested that they may be willing to rejoin the largest coalition in the Iraqi parliament, in a possible indication of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's increasingly strong position.

"We support the idea of renewing the former coalition, in what should be called the United Iraqi National Alliance," al-Sadr's office said in a press release Friday.

Jerusalem, Feb 12 : US officials are publicly taking a wait-and-watch approach to the formation of a new Israeli Government, but privately have expressed concern over Likud Party leader Binyamin Netanyahu heading a right-wing coalition.

There would be great unease at the prospect of such a government; the Jerusalem Post quoted one Capitol Hill source, as saying.

Amsterdam - Dutch legislator Geert Wilders is due to travel to Britain on Thursday despite an entry ban from the British authorities, Dutch media reported.

The leader of the liberal-rightist Freedom Party PVV, which is highly critical of Islam and migrants, was invited to London by a member of the House of Lords for a showing of his controversial political film Fitna.

The British authorities recently decided to refuse Wilders entry because the legislator would allegedly pose a threat to public security.

Repeated requests by the Dutch government to Britain to reconsider the entry ban did not have any effect.

It remains unclear whether Wilders will be allowed to board the British airplane at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.

Berlin - Germany's new economics minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, was sworn in to office Thursday, completing the handover after his predecessor Michael Glos had asked Saturday to step down.

Yangon - Myanmar's main opposition party marked Union Day Thursday by launching a nationwide petition campaign to free its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since mid-2003.

Hundreds of National League for Democracy (NLD) members and supporters kicked off the "Free Suu Kyi" campaign by signing their names on a signboard at the party's headquarters in Yangon on the holiday that marks the 1947 call for independence by Myanmar's ethnic groups.

"We started the signature campaign today for the freeing of Daw [Madame] Aung San Suu Kyi, U Tin Oo and all political prisoners," NLD spokesman Nyan Win said.