SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has recovered from a bout of H1N1 swine flu and will return to his normal routine on Tuesday, his office said on Monday.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Monday welcomed a U.S. senator’s success in winning the release of an American jailed in Myanmar and for meeting with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria announced on Monday it was slashing taxes on tourism projects to persuade investors that the country, emerging from years of violence, could become a hot new holiday destination.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Human rights groupings around the world are calling for an end to the bloc system in the United Nations main rights forum which they say enables countries guilty of gross abuses to sit on the body.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian police used batons to disperse dozens of opposition supporters chanting “death to the dictator” in central Tehran Monday to protest against the closure of a reformist newspaper, a witness said.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A strong earthquake rattled Taiwan and southern Japanese islands on Monday but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

KABUL (Reuters) - Exiled Uzbek leader General Abdul Rashid Dostum, whose supporters could swing this week’s presidential election, returned to Afghanistan on Sunday after being given a government all-clear.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least six people were killed when two bombs exploded at a popular restaurant in a predominantly Shi’ite Muslim neighborhood of eastern Baghdad on Sunday, Iraqi police said.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - U.S. and Pakistani officials meeting on Sunday said they were heartened by signs of a rift between Pakistani Taliban factions after the apparent death of militant leader Baitullah Mehsud.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - The first U.S. military plane to land in Taiwan for three decades arrived on Sunday with building materials to help reconstruction, a week after a typhoon brought devastating floods and mudslides.