CARACAS, Venezuela -- Hugo Chavez has tossed out a controversial intelligence decree that would have forced Venezuelans to become informants and spy on their neighbors or face prison time.

He says "errors" were made in the decree that must now be corrected. But he denies that his government is on the defensive. He said Tuesday that this is a simple matter of fixing a mistake.

BAGHDAD -- A top American official expressed confidence Tuesday the U.S. and Iraq will finalize a long-term security pact on time next month despite strong opposition from Iran and a storm of criticism from Iraqi lawmakers who must ratify the deal.

David Satterfield, the State Department's top adviser on Iraq, said both sides were committed to reaching an agreement, which would also provide a legal basis for keeping U.S. troops here after the United Nations mandate expires at the end of the year.

"We're confident it can be achieved, and by the end-of-July deadline," Satterfield said of the agreement.

Satterfield bristled at suggestions by a senior Bush administration official close to the talks, who told The Associated Press on Monday that it was "very possible" the U.S. may have to extend the existing U.N. mandate.

ATHENS, Greece -- Three islanders from Lesbos told a court Tuesday that gay women insult the island's identity by calling themselves lesbians.

The plaintiffs -- two women and a man -- want to ban a Greek gay rights group from using the word "lesbian" in its name. The hearing comes during a broad debate on gay rights in Greece, prompted by the country's first same-sex marriages, which took place this month.

Also known as Mytilini, Lesbos was the home of the ancient poet Sappho, who praised love among women. It is a major travel destination for gay women.

The Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece "causes confusion by using a geographic term in connection with (the group's) special character and social action," said Dimitris Papadelis, a lawyer representing the islanders.

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinians firing mortars at southern Israel on Tuesday, while Israel's leaders debated whether to pursue a truce with Gaza's Hamas rulers or launch a broad military offensive against militants in the coastal strip.

In a related development, the father of an Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza by Hamas said his son pleaded for his life and appealed to the government not to abandon him in a newly received letter.

The Israeli attack came after militants bombarded southern Israel with 20 mortar rounds in the space of an hour, and Hamas said the strike killed three members of one of its mortar squads.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan hopes leaders from more than 60 countries meeting in Paris on Thursday will pledge some $15 billion to help rebuild a nation wracked by poverty and the Taliban insurgency.

But President Hamid Karzai could have a tough time convincing donors his government is ready to tackle another problem bleeding the nation: corruption.

A World Bank report released Tuesday said infighting within the government and a lack of leadership to confront graft "has resulted in the widely held view that corruption is being ignored or tacitly allowed."

The report also called for increased efforts to oust government officials connected to the drug trade in Afghanistan, which is the world's unrivaled center of heroin production.

SYDNEY, Australia -- A judge halted a drug conspiracy trial Tuesday after some jurors were found to have been playing the puzzle game Sudoku while evidence was being given.

Sydney District Court Judge Peter Zahra ended the trial Tuesday for two men facing a possible life sentence for drug conspiracy charges. The trial had been running for 66 days and had cost taxpayers an estimated $950,000.

The judge was alerted after jurors were observed writing vertically, rather than horizontally. It had been assumed they were taking notes.

"Yes, it helps me keep my mind busy paying more attention," the jury foreman told the judge Tuesday. "Some of the evidence is rather drawn out and I find it difficult to maintain my attention the whole time, and that doesn't distract me too much from proceedings."

Jurors in the trial are anonymous, and no action can be taken against them for the puzzle playing.

WOLONG, China -- Mao Mao the panda's remains were gently laid in a wooden crate and wheeled to a patch of ground in China's famed Wolong Nature Reserve where a freshly dug grave awaited.

The center's director stood cap in hand and shoveled in a few spades of dirt. Then Mao Mao's keeper stepped forward crying, and arranged two apples and a piece of bread by the grave. Three minutes of silence followed as workers gathered around the grave.

Nearly a month after she was crushed to death when China's devastating earthquake collapsed the wall of her enclosure, 9-year-old Mao Mao was laid to rest Tuesday in a quiet corner of the Wolong panda breeding center.

The facility was badly damaged by the May 12 quake but officials initially thought all 64 pandas had survived. Then they discovered two were missing. Mao Mao's body was discovered Monday, buried under debris.