WORLD briefs

ABU DHABI. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed ahead with his sales pitch to Gulf Arab nations Wednesday, telling oil-rich Mideast allies Washington is committed to keeping the dollar strong and promoting sustainable growth as the world pulls out of a recession.

Geithner's comments in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi came on the second leg of a two-day trip to the Middle East, where he is seeking to convince Arab leaders on the Obama administration's efforts to fix the U.S. economy

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt. North Korea is not ready to resume disarmament negotiations over its nuclear program because the U.S. and its allies do not respect the nation's sovereignty, said the country's No. 2 leader.

Speaking at the Non-Aligned Movement summit of 118 nations, Kim Yong Nam, the country's second-highest official, blasted the U.S. for its "hostile actions," which had pushed the situation into a "serious confrontation."

WASHINGTON. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor declined repeatedly at Senate confirmation hearings Wednesday to disclose her views on abortion rights, and said President Barack Obama never asked her about the issue before he selected her for the bench.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand. A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck off New Zealand's western coast Wednesday generating a small tsunami. No injuries or major damage were reported.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii warned that a tsunami was generated, but it later said the waves were less than 8 inches in height and the warning was canceled after about an hour.

KABUL. The death toll for foreign troops in Afghanistan halfway through July equaled the highest for any month of the eight-year-old war, tallies showed on Wednesday, as a U.S. escalation has met unprecedented violence.

Authorities announced a U.S. soldier had been killed by a bomb and two Turks had died in a road accident, raising the toll of U.S. and allied foreign fatalities in the first half of July to 46.