Jerusalem - Israeli Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert telephoned Egyptian President Hozny Mubarak Wednesday to apologize "in the name of the state of Israel" for a remark in which a hardline Israeli lawmaker told the Egyptian president to "get lost."

Moscow/Astana, Kazakhstan - Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao flew to the Kazakh capital of Astana from Moscow on Wednesday for the last leg of a tour focused on China's energy ties and the global financial crisis.

The official purpose of Wen's visit is a summit meeting on Thursday and Friday of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a security grouping of central Asian states, including Russia.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will also attend. The two leaders will hold talks on the sidelines.

New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Wednesday on Middle Eastern countries to cooperate to resolve issues such as border security following the reported US air raid inside Syria.

"The secretary general deeply regrets the loss of civilian lives in this incident and reiterates his earlier call for the need for regional cooperation to solve issues of common concern, including border security," UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

Berlin - A German official resigned his vice-ministerial post at the Transport Ministry Wednesday after weeks of criticism of executive bonuses that are planned at one of Germany's biggest state-owned companies.

Matthias von Randow represented the ministry as a member of the supervisory board of Deutsche Bahn, the national railways company, which is set to privatize a one-quarter stake in its passenger and freight operations.

New York - The intensified fighting in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo involved human shields and could create a "humanitarian crisis of catastrophic dimensions," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday.

The fighting between rebel troops and government soldiers could bring "dire consequences" in the region, Ban said.

Ban called on governments that have influence on the forces on the ground to try to restore an effective ceasefire and prevent further casualties among the civilian population.