GUATEMALA CITY (AFP) - A Guatemalan criminal court authorized Wednesday the extradition of ex-president Alfonso Portillo to the United States, where he faces money laundering charges, an official said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President Barack Obama said Wednesday that there was no crisis in US-Israeli relations, despite one of the worst rows in years over new settler homes in east Jerusalam.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A key Al-Qaeda figure, Hussein al-Yemeni, involved in a recent attack on the CIA in Afghanistan apparently has been killed in Pakistan, a US counterterrorism official told AFP Wednesday.

YAOUNDE (AFP) - Seven Chinese fishermen abducted off Cameroon's resource-rich Bakassi peninsula last week were freed on Wednesday, Cameroonian and Chinese sources told AFP.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Wednesday refused to rule out an appeal for aid to the International Monetary Fund, if European backing is insufficient to resolve its debt crisis.