1. Envoy to China

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke won unanimous* Senate confirmation as ambassador to China last Wednesday, becoming the first Chinese American to hold the diplomatic post.

Locke, whose grandfather came from China to the United States on a steamboat, promised to be a forceful advocate* for human rights and for U.S. businesses.

The new envoy succeeds Jon Huntsman, who left Beijing some three months ago and has mounted a run against President Barack Obama in the November 2012 elections.

2. 2014 World Cup

The 2014 World Cup in Brazil will take place between June 12 and July 13, FIFA announced last Wednesday, insisting that the country will be ready to host the sport's greatest tournament.

Five-time champion Brazil will host the tournament for the second time after 1950. The last South American host was Argentina in 1978.

3. Guyana airliner crash

A packed Caribbean Airlines passenger jet skidded off a runway as it landed in Guyana on Saturday night, then broke in two at the edge of a ravine*. There were no casualties*.

The Boeing 737-800 overshot* the runway and burst through a fence after arriving at Georgetown's Cheddi Jagan airport just past midnight from New York. The front of the plane snapped* off and it stopped meters from a jungle gorge*. Only three people were hospitalized, one for a broken leg.

4. Rebel commander killed

Libyan rebels say the gunmen who shot dead their military chief were militiamen* allied* in their struggle to overthrow* Moammar Gadhafi, raising questions about divisions and lawlessness within rebel ranks.

The assassination of Abdel Fattah Younes, apparently by his own side, has hurt the opposition* just as it was winning broader international recognition and launching an offensive* against Gadhafi's forces in the Western Mountains.

5. Riverboat collision

At least seven people died on Sunday when a riverboat collided* with a barge* and sank in the Moscow River.

The private boat carrying 16 people sank after colliding with the river barge at around 1 a.m. Russian media quoted passengers as saying the boat had been rented for a birthday celebration.

6. 25 migrants found dead

More than two dozen African migrants trying to reach Italy from Libya died in the hold* of a boat so packed with people that the migrants could not get out as they struggled to breathe, Italian media and coast guard officials said on Monday after the bodies were found below decks.

Hundreds of migrants fleeing unrest* and conflict in Libya and across North Africa are believed to have died since the beginning of the year in desperate journeys across the Mediterranean.

7. Nuclear talks

North Korea said on Monday it wanted an early resumption* of six-party nuclear negotiations following "constructive" talks with the United States last week.

Pyongyang walked out of the negotiations in April 2009, a month before its second atomic* weapons test. But it has indicated willingness to return to the dialogue also grouping South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and the United States.

8. Islands row

South Korea on Monday banned the entry of three Japanese lawmakers in a fresh diplomatic row* over islands claimed by both countries.

Immigration officials stopped the three members of Japan's conservative opposition Liberal Democratic Party when they arrived at Seoul's Gimpo airport.

The group had planned to visit Ulleung island, the closest South Korean territory to the Seoul-controlled, uninhabited* Dokdo islands in the East Sea, which are known in Japan as Takeshima.