Canada's new premier underscores ethics

OTTAWA -- A day after he was sworn in, Prime Minister Paul Martin met Saturday with his new Cabinet and said the first order of business would be creating an independent ethics commissioner to monitor his Liberal Party government's behavior. Martin, who served nine years as finance minister for outgoing Prime Minister Jean Chretien, also rejected a call from the leftist New Democratic Party to cancel several billion dollars in planned tax cuts in order to bolster health care and other social programs.

German students protest cuts to universities

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Tens of thousands of students took to the streets of three German cities Saturday, protesting government plans to slash funding for universities. More than 20,000 students marched in Berlin. Frankfurt and Leipzig were also the scene of large demonstrations Saturday. German universities do not charge tuition, and all students who qualify have the right to attend. But with the country facing one of its worst financial crises in years, the government says it must cut back on its generous social benefits system, including higher education. Berlin's three state-run universities stand to lose $92 million from their budgets between 2006 and 2009.

U.S. farm producers head to communist Cuba

HAVANA -- The door to American trade with Cuba was nudged open a bit more this weekend as more than 250 U.S. agribusiness representatives traveled here for sales talks, marking the second anniversary of the first U.S. commercial food shipments to the communist island. Pedro Alvarez, head of Cuba's food import company, Alimport, said on Saturday that he expected at least $130 million in new sales contracts would be signed during four days of talks, which begin Monday. He said 147 companies from 29 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico are attending.

U.S. envoy urges Israel to revive stalled talks

JERUSALEM -- A U.S. envoy sought "concrete steps" from Israel and the Palestinians to revive peace talks, the latest indication of Washington's impatience with the two sides' inability to resolve more than three years of conflict. David Satterfield, a senior State Department official, met Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia Saturday on a visit to the region that is meant to help restart the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan. In the latest violence, Israeli troops fired at a taxi that evaded a West Bank checkpoint before dawn on Saturday, killing a Palestinian woman passenger.

-- From wire reports