SWITZERLAND

The United States and Russia missed their target to adopt a new arms-control treaty, though they pledged they would generally abide by the old one while they keep negotiating. The two sides were stepping up talks in Geneva in hopes of shortly concluding the agreement, which would cut the world's two largest nuclear arsenals by as much as a third.

KENYA

A cholera epidemic is sweeping across Kenya, with 4,700 cases reported in the past month and 119 deaths. Kenyan health officials are calling it "one of the worst outbreaks in a decade." The most stricken areas are the arid swaths of northern Kenya, which were hit earlier this year by a drought.

CUBA

Cuba hit back at 60 prominent U.S. black leaders who challenged its race record, with island writers, artists and official journalists calling the criticism an attack on their country's identity. The statement, distributed by Cuban government officials in an e-mail, defended Cuba's progress in providing social and personal opportunities for blacks and people of mixed race.

ENGLAND

The United Nations will conduct its own investigation into e-mails leaked from a leading British climate science center in addition to the probe by the University of East Anglia, a senior U.N. climate official said. E-mails stolen from the climate unit at the university appeared to show some of world's leading scientists discussing ways to shield data from public scrutiny and suppress others' work. Those who deny the influence of man-made climate change seized on the correspondence to say scientists have been conspiring to hide evidence about global warming.

GEORGIA

H1N1 flu infections continue to wane, just as vaccine is becoming plentiful enough that some communities are allowing everyone to get it, not just those in priority groups. H1N1 flu was widespread in only 25 states last week -- mostly in the Northeast and Southwest, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said. In late October, 48 states reported widespread cases of swine flu. But since then, there's been a decline across the country, and it appears that a fall wave of swine flu infections has peaked.

MYANMAR

The highest court in Myanmar has agreed to consider an appeal by Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the country's battered democracy movement, over an 18-month extension of her long-standing house arrest. The decision comes after a lower court's rejection in October and coincides with tentative signs of a thawing of relations between the country's military government and Western countries.

WISCONSIN

Police investigating the fatal shootings of a mother and her young daughter in Madison and the slayings of another woman and young girl found dead in a nearby suburb were searching for the girls' father. Tyrone Adair, 38, was charged in two of the deaths and identified as a "person of interest" in the other two.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

President Obama abruptly altered the timing of his appearance at the upcoming international climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, hoping to capitalize on steps by India and China and build a more meaningful political accord, the White House said. The move means he will be at the summit on Dec. 18, when more leaders are in attendance.

Tai Shan, a young giant panda who became a major draw after his birth at Washington's National Zoo, will leave for China as soon as January or February for breeding.

NEWS SERVICES