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It is 23:30 universal time and here is the news in Special English on the Voice of America.I'm Jim Tedder in Washington.

1.A new report says Al-Qaede officials have told Afghanistan's Taliban about plans to move most of the terror groups operations to a new area in Iraq. The report will be published Monday in Newsweek magazine. The Taliban reportedly said three Al-Qaede officials announced plans to reduce their payments to the Taliban by half and to move a large number of fighters from Afghanistan to Iraq. A man at the meeting reportedly said Al-Qaede leader Osama Bin Landen now considers Iraq to be the perfect battlefield for fighting the United States and its allies. American Intelligence officials say they have no evidence of a major movement of Al-Qaede troops.

2.The United States Ambassador to Afghanistan says American officials are investigating the deaths of nine Afghan children killed in an American air attack. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said he is deeply saddened by the loss of innocent life. He said an American military officer and Afghan officials are meeting with the families of the nine children killed in the southern town of Ghazni. American military officials and the Ghazni provincial government say the air attack targeted a known commander of troops loyal to the ousted Taliban government. American officials say the commander was killed in the attack.Local citizens say he escaped.

3.The leaders of several Palestinian political groups have ended four days of talks in Cairo without reaching agreement about a ceasefire offer to Israel. Palestinian delegates say Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia left the Egyptian capital without an agreement. Delegates say their talks ended in disagreements about the question of offering Israel a full ceasefire or a limited truce. On Saturday, Palestinians said they were ready to stop the bombings inside Israel. Later, Israel said it would reject any proposal that fail to include ending attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians in the occupied territories.

4.Early returns from Russia's parliamentary elections show the United Russia Party has won thirty seven percent of the vote. About three percent of the votes have been counted. The Liberal Democratic Party has almost sixteen percent of the vote. The Communist Party is in third place with thirteen percent. The election is expected to strengthen Russian President Vladimir Putin's control of the legislature and improve his political power. Russian voters are choosing candidates for the four 450-seat State Duma. One hundred nine million voters could have taken part in the election. Russians also voted Saturday and Sunday for representatives for most of the Russian Federation's eighty nine areas.

5.Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has arrived in the United States for talks with American officials. President Bush will welcome the Chinese leader to the White House in Washington on Tuesday. Mr.Wen will also meet with American Secretary of State Colin Powell and separately with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. The leaders are expected to discuss North Korea, trade and Taiwan. Chinese officials say the question of Taiwan will be the most important. China has denounced Taiwan's plan to hold a vote in which citizens will be able to demand the removal of five hundred Chinese missiles aimed at Taiwan.

6.A South Korean diplomat says his country, the United States and Japan will soon have a new proposal about resolving the crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons program. South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck said the proposal would be given to China on Monday, so it can communicate with North Korea. Mr.Lee said the proposal concerns the need for a peaceful settlement to the crisis as well as North Korea's security. He said that six-nation negotiations will be held in Beijing if North Korea accepts the proposal. He said the time is probably too short for the meeting to take place this month.

7.Germany and Italy say they will continue to support efforts to reform the European Union voting system. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi met Sunday in Berlin. They are preparing for a meeting in Brussels later this week on reforming the EU constitution. If approved, the new constitution would give more voting power to more populous EU nations, such as Germany, France and Italy. However, smaller countries, such as Spain and incoming member Poland want each member to have an equal vote.

8.Zimbabwe says it has left the Commonwealth after the 54-nation group extended its suspension. A government statement said President Robert Mugabe made the announcement to the leaders of Nigeria, South Africa and Jamaica. On Saturday, Mr.Mugabe threatened to leave the group if the suspension was not ended. The Commonwealth suspended Zimbabwe last year because of election cheating.

9.The Indonesian Security Minister says terrorists may be planning new attacks in Indonesia. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says the attacks could take place during new year celebrations and the country's 2004 elections. He says the terrorist groups are probably reorganizing because of the Indonesian government's efforts to shut them down. On Friday, the American Embassy in Jakarta warned that westerners could be the targets of a terrorist campaign in late December and early January. Indonesia blames the Jemaah Islamiah group for several deadly attacks including bombings on Bali last year. More than two hundred people died in the attacks.

Briefly, here again is the major news of the hour.

A new report says Al-Qaede officials have told Afghanistan's Taliban about plans to move most of the terro group's operations to a new area in Iraq. The United States Ambassador to Afghanistan says American officials are investigating the deaths of nine Afghan children killed in an American air attack. And Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has arrived in the United States for talks with American officials.

That's the news in VOA Special English. This is Jim Tedder reporting.