KABUL -- Floods and avalanches killed scores of people in Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials said yesterday, as the heaviest rains in years destroyed villages, flooded farmland and drove hundreds from their homes.

JERUSALEM -- In a dramatic response to an Arab peace initiative, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday invited Arab leaders to a peace conference to discuss their ideas for resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.

CANBERRA, Australia -- The pilot and co-pilot of a passenger jet argued about speed and wing-flap angles moments before it crashed at an Indonesian airport, killing 21 people, a senior investigator said yesterday. The Garuda Airlines' jet burst into flames after overshooting the runway on March 7. There were 119 survivors.

BEIJING -- A cave-in along a subway line being built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics killed four construction workers, state media reported yesterday. Two workers were missing. The construction company waited eight hours to report the accident, Xinhua News Agency reported.

FORT PIERCE -- A 9-year-old boy and a 30-year-old surfer were apparently bitten by sharks off Hutchinson Island on Florida's east coast, authorities said. Their injuries were not life-threatening.

This is cache, read story here