Sao Paulo - Brazilian comedians gave symbolic "bad luck presents" to British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, who is seeking the world championship title Sunday in Sao Paulo.

Hamilton's rival for the title is Brasilian Felipe Massa, so many of his compatriots are hoping for a "miracle" at the season-ender on the Interlagos circuit.

Taipei - Taiwan Friday opened its 2008 Taipei International Travel Fair with the aim of attracting more foreign and Chinese tourists.

Sixty-two countries and regions have set up 1,206 booths at the four-day fair with Chinese exhibitors occupying 256 booths, nearly four times more than the second-largest exhibitor, Japan, with 69.

China sent a 290-strong delegation to the Taipei World Trade Centre, hoping to boost its own tourism.

Copenhagen - Were it up to Danish voters, US presidential candidate Barack Obama would win a landslide victory, a Danish newspaper reported Friday.

Tel Aviv - Legislators of the opposition Likud party asked Israel's attorney-general Friday to examine whether interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as the head of a transitional government has the authority to continue peace negotiations with Syria.

Likud legislator Yuval Steinitz said Olmert, by conducting talks with Syria as an outgoing premier, was "trampling the principles of democracy" and endangering "Israel's most vital interests" for the sake of his own personal record.

Brussels - The European Union on Friday urged Israel to put an end to "brutal" attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.

"The European Union once again condemns in the strongest possible terms the acts of violence and brutality committed against Palestinian civilians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank," said a statement issued by the French presidency of the EU on behalf of the bloc's 27 member states.

"The European Union would point out that it is up to the Israeli government, which has itself condemned these acts, to take the necessary measures to stop them immediately, in accordance with its international obligations," the EU said.

Kabul - A soldier of the US-led coalition was killed in eastern Afghanistan, while international forces arrested three suspected insurgents elsewhere, the military said Friday.

The soldier was killed by small arms fire on Friday in the eastern region, US military said in a statement, but did not say if the firefight was with Taliban militants.

The dead soldier was not identified in the statement. Most of the soldiers who serve under the command of coalition forces are from the US.

More than 1,000 international soldiers have been killed in and around Afghanistan since the ouster of Taliban regime in late 2001.