KINSHASA (Reuters) - Rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have sacked their political leader, the group's military commander said, a sign of in-fighting likely to undermine regional efforts to end two decades of conflict. The M23 rebellion is the latest uprising in Congo's mineral rich eastern borderlands. Last year the group inflicted a series of defeats on government forces, culminating in the brief seizure of the major town of Goma. There has been little progress in Ugandan-hosted peace talks launched since the rebels withdrew from the town under international pressure. ...

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's Congress approved early on Thursday a agreement with Iran to investigate the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish community center that Argentine courts have long accused Tehran of sponsoring. Jewish leaders say the pact to set up a "truth commission" risks undermining the ongoing judicial investigation into the attack, which killed 85 people, but President Cristina Fernandez says it could shed new light on the case after years of deadlock. ...

GENEVA (Reuters) - People in the area worst contaminated by radioactive material released by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident two years ago have a higher risk of developing certain cancers over their lifetime, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday. "This health risk assessment concludes that no discernible increase in health risks from the Fukushima event is expected outside Japan. ...

LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Slovenia's prime minister-designate promised on Thursday she would be able to heal its banks and avoid an international bailout after a banking crisis that dethroned her conservative predecessor just a year into office. Legislators dismissed Janez Jansa's cabinet on Wednesday night and handed the baton to Alenka Bratusek, a centre-left finance expert tasked with preventing the fourth financial rescue of a euro zone member country since 2008. ...

ROME (Reuters) - Western and Arab officials will meet representatives of the Syrian opposition in Istanbul next Monday to discuss military and humanitarian support for rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad, a European diplomatic source said on Thursday. "The meeting aims to work directly with opposition structures to increase the level of support," the source said, adding that both civilian and military representatives of the Syrian opposition would attend. ...

BEIJING (Reuters) - Two major Chinese military websites, including that of the Defense Ministry, were subject to about 144,000 hacking attacks a month last year, almost two-thirds of which came from the United States, the ministry said on Thursday. This month a U.S. computer security company said that a secretive Chinese military unit was likely behind a series of hacking attacks mostly targeting the United States, setting off a war of words between Washington and Beijing. China denied the allegations and said it was the victim. ...

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria will hold an early election on May 12, the president said on Thursday, seeking a way out of a political crisis that could undermine the Balkan country's economic stability. Prime Minister Boiko Borisov resigned last week after nationwide protests against high electricity prices, and plans to cut prices and revoke the distribution license of Czech utility CEZ could deter other investors. ...

WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish authorities found signs of horse DNA in beef stored at three storage facilities after several countries pointed to Poland as one of the sources of tainted meat that has shaken up the European food industry. Officials in Ireland, Britain, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic have reported that products such as burgers and lasagne contained horsemeat that originated from facilities in Poland. Poland's General Veterinary Inspectorate said in a statement late on Wednesday it found three tainted samples from 121 tested, with 80 more to be examined. ...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China is signaling that it is keen to get on top of troubled ties with the United States, Japan and North Korea with the likely appointment of two officials with deep experience of these countries to its top diplomatic posts. Current Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, ambassador to Washington from 2001-2005 and a polished English speaker, is tipped to be promoted to state councilor with responsibility for foreign policy, three independent sources said. China has only five such councilors and the post is senior to that of foreign minister. ...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's next manned space mission will launch sometime between June and August, carrying three astronauts to an experimental space module, state media said on Thursday, the latest part of an ambitious plan to build a space station. The Shenzhou 10 and its crew will launch from a remote site in the Gobi desert and then link up with the Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) 1 module, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Chinese astronauts carried out a manned docking with the module for the first time last June. ...