A Malawian court has ruled that US pop star Madonna has failed in her bid to adopt a second child from the country. "I must decline to grant the application for the adoption of the infant," judge...

Gunman kills 13 in New York siege Gov Paterson: 'Profound sadness over what we have had to go through' A gunman has killed 13 people after taking dozens hostage in the US state of New York. The...

US military chiefs are bolstering their forces around the Horn of Africa to help tackle Somali pirates holding a US captain hostage in a drifting lifeboat. Gen David Petraeus said reinforcements ...

Indian police are hunting a conman who hypnotised a Mumbai jewellery store worker before stealing 160,000 dollars worth of diamond necklaces and bracelets. Skip related contentKatrina Sunil Purswa...

That's Bizarre: A smitten US couple have got married 50 times. Carl and Clara Rial have tied the knot in all of America's 50 states - marrying in places as diverse as zoos and funeral homes - and...

Hero Rabbit Saturday (11th) A British couple were saved from a potentially deadly gas leak by their pet rabbit. The bunny escaped from the house kitchen, hopped upstairs and woke owners Warren Tay...

A Chinese man has managed to pull a car while walking on eggs without breaking a single egg.Not only did he pull the car 20 metres, he actually did it with his ears! The 38-year-old probably has ...

US President Barack Obama says CIA agents who used harsh interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects during the Bush era will not be prosecuted. Mr Obama banned the use of methods such as slee...

German Postal Workers Startled By Vibrations BERLIN - (Around The Weird) -- Workers in a German post office in the eastern city of Chemnitz were startled on Wednesday when a package awaiting ship...

Thanks to a new law, Canada will bestow citizenship Friday on what its government believes could be hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting foreigners, most of them Americans. The April 17 amendmen...

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - President Obama offered a spirit of cooperation to America's hemispheric neighbors at a summit Saturday, listening to complaints about past U.S. meddling and even re...

Shanghai, China (GenevaLunch) - The Red Bull team scored their first Grand Prix victory in the Chinese race, and took second place as well, pushing current championship leader Jenson Button into t...

KINGSTON, Jamaica - A gunman forced his way though airport security and hijacked a Canadian jet near Montego Bay, holding six crew members hostage for eight hours before police and soldiers storme...

LONDON - Famed mathematician Stephen Hawking was rushed to a hospital Monday and was seriously ill, Cambridge University said. The university said Hawking has been fighting a chest infection for ...

WASHINGTON - Food hijacked Dr. David Kessler's brain. Not apples or carrots. The scientist who once led the government's attack on addictive cigarettes can't wander through part of San Francisco w...

China is staging a military parade to celebrate its navy's 60th anniversary - and show the world its latest warships. A least one of the country's nuclear-powered submarines is on display at the ...

EnglandSt. George wood carving. St George's Day was a major feast in England on a par with Christmas from the early 15th century.[citation needed] However, this tradition had waned by the end of ...

While the collapsing U.S. housing market may be at the root of the global economic recession, the downturn's effects are being felt hardest overseas. Take Iceland, for instance. Its biggest banks ...

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- For British rats, the worst of times has turned out to be the best of times. The vermin more associated with the Dickensian era than modern Britain are thriving, with shut...

April 26  An Italian cruise ship was attacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean late yesterday, a day after a German cargo ship was seized. The MS Melody's security personnel fended off the p...

April 26  A growing number of swine flu cases in the U.S. and Mexico led the Obama administration to declare a public health emergency and release stockpiles of medicine. New illnesses also ...

April 27  One person in Spain has been confirmed as suffering from swine flu in Europe's first case of the disease, Health MinisterTrinidad Jimenez said. A further 16 people are being tested...

Concern that the world could be on the brink of the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years escalated Sunday as France, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Spain reported potential new cases in whic...

April 27 The World Health Organization will raise its pandemic alert to an unprecedented level today, saying that swine flu is spreading across North America, two people familiar with the agency s...

April 28 The World Health Organization, acknowledging the growing threat of swine flu, raised its global pandemic alert, saying the disease is no longer containable. The alarm level, raised to 4 ...

April 28 (Bloomberg) -- The number of confirmed cases of swine flu in the U.S. jumped to 64, with most in New York City, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today. Five states hav...

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said hundreds of students in his city are sick with suspected cases of swine flu, an indication the disease may be taking root in countries...

Morrissey, in an interview given to Len Brown (date unknown): "If I praise something, a film or a record from the Sixties, I'm quite genuine about it, and it's not like I'm digging up some Viking ...

    Statement by WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan   Based on assessment of all available information, and following several expert consultations, I have decided to...

April 30 The world is on the verge of the first influenza pandemic since 1968 after a new swine flu took root in Mexico, the U.S. and seven other countries. The World Health Organization raised i...

April 30  A swine-flu patient in Spain who hadn't traveled to Mexico may signal a new front of the outbreak, potentially heralding the first influenza pandemic in 41 years. The World Health ...

April 30  -- Fort Worth, Texas, closed 144 public schools with 80,000 students after one child came down with swine flu. Citigroup Inc. disinfected a New York office building when a worker be...

May 1 - Swine flu reached 11 countries, as governments closed schools, planned for vaccine production and tapped emergency stockpiles of antiviral medicine. More than 250 people have swine flu co...

Influenza A virus subtype H1N1, also known as A(H1N1), is a subtype of influenzavirus A and the most common cause of influenza (flu) in humans. Some strains of H1N1 are endemic in humans, includin...

  Influenza A(H1N1) - update 8.1 1 May 2009 -- The situation continues to evolve. As of 23:30 GMT, 1 May 2009, 13 countries have officially reported 367 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infect...

      Influenza A(H1N1) - update 10 2 May 2009 -- The situation continues to evolve. As of 18:00 GMT+1, 2 May 2009, 16 countries have officially reported 658 cases of ...

3 May 2009 -- The situation continues to evolve. As of 0800 GMT+1, 3 May 2009, 17 countries have officially reported 786 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection. Mexico has reported 506 confirmed h...

May 4  Swine flu has spread to 30 U.S. states and the number of countries with confirmed cases jumped to 19 from two in little more than a week. The expansion comes amid signs of a waning epi...

  As of 1600 GMT, 3 May 2009, 18 countries have officially reported 898 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection. Mexico has reported 506 confirmed human cases of infection, including 19 deat...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 14 4 May 2009 -- As of 18:00 GMT, 4 May 2009, 21 countries have officially reported 1085 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection. Mexico has reported 590 labor...

May 5 The virulence of the swine flu that has sickened at least 1,085 people in 21 countries may reveal itself when the Southern Hemisphere faces its influenza season that begins this month, globa...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 15 Mexico has reported 590 laboratory confirmed human cases of infection, including 25 deaths. The United States has reported 286 laboratory confirmed human cases, in...

May 5 -- The virulence of the swine flu that has sickened at least 1,490 people in 21 countries may reveal itself when the Southern Hemisphere faces its influenza season beginning this month, glob...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 16 5 May 2009 -- As of 16:00 GMT 21 countries have officially reported 1490 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection. Mexico has reported 822 laboratory confirmed huma...

May 6 -- Production of hundreds of millions of doses of swine flu vaccine may move ahead next week after the virus spread to 23 countries and 41 U.S. states, world health officials said. The numb...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 18 6 May 2009 -- As of 16:00 GMT 23 countries have officially reported 1,893 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection. Mexico has reported 942 laboratory confirmed hum...

May 7  -- A 58-year-old Polish woman was hospitalized with swine flu after returning home from a trip to New York, bringing the number of influenza cases worldwide to 1,893 in 24 countries. ...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 20 7 May 2009 -- As of 18:00 GMT, 7 May 2009, 24 countries have officially reported 2,371 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection. Mexico has reported 1,112 labo...

May 8  -- Argentina, Brazil and Japan confirmed their first cases of swine flu as six more people contracted the virus that's infected over 2,000 worldwide. Four people are infected in Brazi...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 22 8 May 2009 -- As of 16:00 GMT, 8 May 2009, 25 countries have officially reported 2,500 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection. Mexico has reported 1,204 labo...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 23 9 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 9 May 2009, 29 countries have officially reported 3,440 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection. Mexico has reported 1364 labora...

May 10 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu killed a man in Washington state, the third U.S. death from a virus American scientists say so far lacks the lethal traits of the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic or...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 24 10 May 2009 -- As of 07:30 GMT, 10 May 2009, 29 countries have officially reported 4,379 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection. Mexico has reported 1,626 laborator...

Every economic bust demands scapegoats. And you can always bet your bottom dollar that politicians and journalists will be the ones leading the mob. (One need only recall the Democrats' recent eff...

An Earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale hit Greater Manchester on> Wednesday morning.> > Casualties were seen wandering aimlessly saying "bang out of order"> "mental" and "sor...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 25 11 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 11 May 2009, 30 countries have officially reported 4,694 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection. Mexico has reported 1,626 lab...

May 12 The swine flu strain that has sickened people in 30 countries rivals the severity of the 1957 "Asian flu" pandemic that killed 2 million people, scientists said. About four of 1,000 people...

Katie Price and Peter Andre have split up. The couple have announced their marriage is over, following recent speculation their union was on the rocks. Their management company Can Associates Li...

Ferrari release statement following board meeting After a meeting of its board of directors in Italy on Tuesday, Ferrari released the following statement: “Ferrari’s Board of Dire...

    Influenza A(H1N1) - update 26   12 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 12 May 2009, 30 countries have officially reported 5,251 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection. Mexico h...

Monarch launches Winter 09/10 flights to Larnaca in CyprusTuesday, May 05, 2009Award winning low fare airline Monarch has added services to Larnaca in Cyprus to its scheduled winter flying program...

LONDON - Digital agencies are warning that social networks need to develop more innovative ad offerings if they are to start realising their oft-stated commercial potential. News that LinkedIn, t...

    Influenza A(H1N1) - update 27 13 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 13 May 2009, 33 countries have officially reported 5,728 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection. Mexico has repor...

    Influenza A(H1N1) - update 28   14 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 14 May 2009, 33 countries have officially reported 6,497 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection. Mexico ...

Below is a map denoting the outbreaks of H1N1(A) Influenza:  

Electronics giant Sony has reported its first annual loss in 14 years, after being hit by a big drop in sales. Sony reported a loss of 98.9bn yen ($1.04bn; £685m) for the year to the end of...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 29   15 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 15 May 2009, 34 countries have officially reported 7,520 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection. Mexico has reported 2...

  Influenza A(H1N1) - update 30   16 May 2009 -- As of 07:00 GMT, 16 May 2009, 36 countries have officially reported 8,451 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection.   Mexico h...

Norway has emerged as the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Russian capital, Moscow. Singer and violinist Alexander Rybak, 23, smashed the record for the most points awarded duri...

    Influenza A(H1N1) - update 33   19 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 19 May 2009, 40 countries have officially reported 9,830 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, includin...

    Influenza A(H1N1) - update 34   20 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 20 May 2009, 41 countries have officially reported 10,243 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, includi...

    Influenza A(H1N1) - update 35   21 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 21 May 2009, 41 countries have officially reported 11,034 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, includi...

    Influenza A(H1N1) - update 36   22 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 22 May 2009, 42 countries have officially reported 11,168 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, includi...

  Influenza A(H1N1) - update 37 23 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 23 May 2009, 43 countries have officially reported 12 022 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 86 deaths...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 38 25 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 25 May 2009, 46 countries have officially reported 12 515 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 91 deaths. The...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 39 26 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 26 May 2009, 46 countries have officially reported 12 954 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 92 deaths. The...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 40 27 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 27 May 2009, 48 countries have officially reported 13,398 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 95 deaths. The...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 41 29 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 29 May 2009, 53 countries have officially reported 15,510 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 99 deaths. The...

While it is far too early to say that the skies have parted, it at least feels like the ground isn't shaking as much as it was in late 2008. Companies are generally turning from asking, "What surp...

Vampire movie "Twilight" took the honors at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday, but it was an unscripted stunt involving "Borat" actor Sacha Baron Cohen and singer Eminem that stole the live show. "T...

France's unemployment rate has risen to a two-year high as it continues to be hit by the global recession. The jobless rate totalled 8.7% between January and March, up from a revised 7.6% for the...

The husband, 25, from Kannapolis, North Carolina, stands accused of using the advertising website to hire another man to enter his house at night and force his wife to have sex. He was arrested o...

Former Canadian pro wrestler and WWE manager John Tolos died Thursday in California at the age of 70.The retired wrestler spent time working a number of NWA territories and held the NWA United Nat...

When Lyndon Johnson was a congressional aide in South Texas, he was friends with John Govatos, a local cafe owner from the Greek community. The friendship was credited with Johnson's improvement ...

For the past few days, various Greek islands have been promoted in the English-language Australian press. In its travel pages, the "Sun Herald" newspaper featured an article on Santorini and its ...

The World Health Organization has said that a sharp increase in swine flu cases in Australia may push it to finally announce a flu pandemic. It would be the first such pandemic announced in four ...

  10 June 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 10 June 2009, 74 countries have officially reported 27,737 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 141 deaths. The breakdown of the number ...

  11 June 2009 -- As of 14:00 GMT, 11 June 2009, 74 countries have officially reported 28,774 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 144 deaths. The breakdown of the number ...

  Influenza A(H1N1) - update 48   12 June 2009 -- As of 07:00 GMT, 12 June 2009, 74 countries have officially reported 29,669 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 145...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 49 15 June 2009 -- As of 17:00 GMT, 15 June 2009, 76 countries have officially reported 35, 928 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 163 deaths. ...

  Influenza A(H1N1) - update 50 Cumulative and new figures are subject to revision - 17 June 2009 12:00 GMT   Laboratory-confirmed cases of new influenza A(H1N1) as offic...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 51 19 June 2009 07:00 GMT Laboratory-confirmed cases of new influenza A(H1N1) as officially reported to WHO by States Parties to the International Health...

June 21 -- Defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi called for further demonstrations in defiance of Iran's supreme leader as a top official said most Iranians question the election res...

The United States staged a remarkable comeback to outclass Egypt 3-0 Sunday and join Brazil in the Confederations Cup semi-finals.Pointless and minus-five on goal difference, the Americans appeare...

  June 22 -- Splits within Iran's ruling elite deepened after police arrested relatives of an ex-president and Parliament's speaker said that most Iranians questioned President Mahmoud Ahm...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 52 - 22 June 2009 07:00 GMT   Laboratory-confirmed cases of new influenza A(H1N1) as officially reported to WHO by States Parties to the International ...

  The inaugural Europa Cup, which replaces the now defunct UEFA Cup, threw up some interesting matches when the draw was made here on Monday for the first of three qualifying rounds.Scottish...

June 24 (Bloomberg) -- Iran's top electoral body ruled out annulling President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election, while U.S. President Barack Obama said he was "outraged" by the violence ...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 53 - 24 June 2009 07:00 GMT   Laboratory-confirmed cases of new influenza A(H1N1) as officially reported to WHO by States Parties to the International ...

Deal reached to avoid breakaway F1 series Peace broke out in Formula One on Wednesday when a deal was reached to avert a breakaway series and teams agreed to further cut costs without a budg...

A Canadian mother has fought off a cougar with her bare hands after it pinned down her three-year old daughter in a forest.  The child, named Maya, escaped with only supe...

UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged reform of international financial institutions as a high-level conference got under way here Wednesday on how to help poor countries weather the global economic crisi...

Witnesses say protesters and riot police are clashing in the streets around Iran's parliament. Three witnesses told The Associated Press hundreds of protesters have gathere...

Federer saunters through and Sharapova fallsRoger Federer sauntered through to the third round at Wimbledon in glorious sunshine on Wednesday while another former champion, Maria Sharapova, was...

Rivals in the NHL and allies on the international stage, Brian Leetch and Lou Lamoriello were selected Tuesday for the Hockey Hall of Fame.Defenseman Brian Leetch spent 17 of his 18 NHL seasons wi...

The world's rich lost a fifth of their wealth in 2008 and the number of people with fortunes of more than $1 million (609,000 pounds) fell 15 percent as the financial crisis wiped out two years...

  Brilliant tactics helped the United States pull off a stunning 2-0 win over Spain and reach the Confederations Cup final, something coach Bob Bradley described as huge. A first half strik...

TEHRAN  - A hardline Iranian cleric on Friday called for the execution of "rioters," in a sign of the authorities' determination to stamp out opposition to the June 12 presidential election r...

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 54 -   26 June 2009 07:00 GMT Laboratory-confirmed cases of new influenza A(H1N1) as officially reported to WHO by States Parties to the Internat...

June 28  -- The doctor who tried to revive Michael Jackson after a cardiac arrest met for three hours with Los Angeles police investigators to answer questions about how the singer died. Con...

Yemeni plane crashes in sea off Comoros with153 on board  An Airbus A310-300 from Yemen with 153 people on board crashed into choppy seas as it tried to land in bad weather on the Indian Oce...

29 June 2009 09:00 GMT Laboratory-confirmed cases of new influenza A(H1N1) as officially reported to WHO by States Parties to the International Health Regulations (2005) 29 June 2009 ...

Global Gaming Factory X buys file-sharing site The Pirate Bay, promising that copyright holders will get paid The Swedish software firm, Global Gaming Factory X, has bought the file-...

Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that five Iranian staff from the British embassy in Tehran had been freed from detention while four were still being held for questioning.The Fars News Agenc...

French and U.S. aircraft hunted on Wednesday for survivors from a plane that crashed off Comoros, while in Paris expatriates from the Indian Ocean archipelago tried to block another flight by the ...

Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 - update 56  -  1 July 2009 09:00 GMT Laboratory-confirmed cases of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 as officially reported to WHO by States Parties to the Internatio...

The rising numbers of swine flu cases mean trying to contain the virus is no longer an option, the government says. Ministers said the emergency response would now move to a new "treatment" phase...

Keynote speech at a high-level meeting on influenza A(H1N1): lessons learned and preparedness Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico 2 July 2009 Influenza A(H1N1): lessons learned and preparedness ...

July 5 -- Iranian authorities have charged an employee of the British Embassy in Tehran with threatening national security, his lawyer said, escalating tensions with the European Union. Hossein R...

Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 - update 57 Laboratory-confirmed cases of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 as officially reported to WHO by States Parties to the International Health Regulations (2005) The...

  Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 - update 58      6 July 2009 09:00 GMT     Laboratory-confirmed cases of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 as officially reported to WHO...

People can tap various custom essay materials from 3rd party providers. Depending on their needs, these people can acquire the essay materials easily through the help of the Internet. However, the...

Geneva, Switzerland 6 July 2009 Focus on health is the key to welfare of humanity Dr Margaret ChanDirector-General of the World Health Organization Madam President, Secretary-General ...

Chinese television showed scenes of emergency teams setting up shelters at the site A moderate earthquake has rocked southwest China killing one person, injuring at least 324 others and destr...

The government had ordered Uighurs to pray at home for the sake of public safety [EPA]Several mosques in the riot-hit Chinese city of Urumqi have opened for Friday prayers, countering earlier noti...

  Talks aimed at ending the political crisis in Honduras have failed to produce a resolution, officials say.Roberto Micheletti, the military-backed interim president of Honduras, left Costa ...

  At least 24 Taliban fighters have been killed during clashes with international forces in central Afghanistan, police officials say.The fighters died after an air raid hit targets in the p...

  Barack Obama, the US president, has called for Russia and America to unite in efforts to prevent North Korea and Iran from developing their nuclear ambitions.The US leader, during a speech...

Marcus North hit an accomplished century during his Ashes debut as Australia continued to pile on the runs on the fourth morning of the first Test against England. North reached his landmark in t...

About 8,100 men and boys were killed as Serb forces overran the town of SrebrenicaThe remains of more than 500 people killed as Serb forces overran the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina in ...

Mottaki said that no new message for Iran had emerged from a summit of G8 leadersIran has said it is preparing a new "package of political, security and international issues" to discuss with weste...

The United Nations says the number of malnourished people now exceeds one billion Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations have pledged $20bn to help the world's poorest nations f...

Hundreds of people carrying white roses have gathered in a German city to honour an Egyptian woman who was fatally stabbed in a courtroom in eastern Germany last week.The crowd massed at the city ...

The Peruvian president has named a member of his pro-business ruling party as prime minister after bowing to opposition pressure to shake up his cabinet.Saturday's appointment of Javier Velasquez ...

Taro Aso, the Japanese prime minister, is set to face a crucial test of popularity in a Tokyo municipal election.The poll on Sunday is seen as a precursor for a upcoming national vote, in which As...

 At least five people have been killed and another 15 injured after a section of a partially-constructed New Delhi metro bridge gave way, a rail service spokesman said.The accident on Sunday ...

Governmment troops are seeking to drive the fighters out of Mogadishu neighbourhoodsAfrican Union (AU) peacekeepers in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, have directly reinforced government troops for...

Lawyers representing Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, are expected to begin their defence arguments at The Hague, where he is on trial for war crimes.Taylor faces 11 charges relati...

An Italian Red Cross worker has been reunited with his family after being held captive for nearly six months by separatists in the southern Philippines."I am happy because I am free. I thank all t...

Kim Jong-il appeared gaunt in recent footage shown on state TV of a rare public appearance [Reuters]North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il, is suffering from pancreatic cancer, a South Korean televisio...

Investments by Gulf Arab countries have been praised by the US treasury secretary as moves that would drive the global economy back to growth.Speaking in the Saudi port city of Jeddah on Tuesday, ...

  Investments by Gulf Arab countries have been praised by the US treasury secretary as moves that would drive the global economy back to g...

The main Nigerian rebel group in the Niger Delta has said it is open to peace talks with the government after its leader was released from detention as part of a government-backed effort aimed at ...

Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president, has dismissed charges against him of war crimes during Sierra Leone's civil war as "lies" and "rumours".He made the comments as he took the stand at ...

Indian troops have taken part in France's Bastille Day military parade, the first time India has taken part and an indication of the growing ties between the two nuclear powers.A 400-strong detach...

Four European Union countries have signed an agreement with Turkey to construct a gas pipeline that it is hoped would reduce their reliance on supplies from Russia.The prime ministers of Austria, ...

Mexico's government has confirmed that 12 bodies found with torture marks along a mountain highway were federal agents investigating organised crime.The officers had been working in the state of M...

US banking giant Goldman Sachs has surpassed market expectations by reporting second-quarter net profits of $3.44bn.The success of the bank's trading and underwriting businesses in April to June -...

The summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, held every three years, is set to open in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, with representatives from 118 member nations in attendance.With this year'...

Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's leader, has described the UN's Security Council as a form of "terrorism" at a meeting of 118 mostly developing nations in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.He told the 15th summit of...

    A Caspian Airlines jet carrying 168 people has crashed in northwest Iran, killing all those on board, Iran's state media has said.The aircraft  had been flying from Tehran to ...

A leading human rights activist in Russia's North Caucasus has been found dead just hours after she was abducted from her home in Chechnya.Natalya Estemirova, a prize-winning campaigner, worked fo...

China's economy grew 7.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2009, the government has said, putting it on track to hit the stated goal of eight per cent growth for the year.The year-on-year growth w...

North Korea's second-in-command has said that his country will not resume six-party nuclear disarmament talks that have been stalled since April, because no one respects its sovereignty.Speaking a...

Armenia has declared a national day of mourning after a Caspian Airlines jet flying to Yerevan, the Armenian capital, crashed in northwest Iran killing all 168 people on board.Of the 153 passenger...

Kadyrov has reportedly vowed to personally oversee the investigation into Estemirova's killing [File: EPA]A Russian human rights group has blamed Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's Kremlin-backed presiden...

About one-fifth of EU demand is met by Russian gas that flows through pipes in Ukraine  [GALLO/GETTY]The European Union has told member states to store natural gas in case Russia again halts ...

The blast at the Ritz-Carlton went off as people were having breakfast in a crowded restaurant [EPA]At least nine people have been killed and scores injured in near simultaneous bomb blasts at two...

Mexican police officers have led a series of raids against drugs cartels in recent months [EPA]Mexico has quadrupled the number of federal police officers in a western state after a drugs cartel k...

 Mir Hossein Mousavi, the Iranian opposition leader, is due to attend Friday prayers in Tehran in his first official public appearance since a disputed presidential election that provoked mas...

    A British stagehand today became the second person to die after the stage collapsed at a stadium due to host a Madonna concert.Technicians were working on the rigging at the Velo...

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former Iranian president, has said that Iran is in "crisis", referring to the upheaval in the country following last month's disputed presidential election.Delivering...

Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 briefing note 1 WHO has been informed by health authorities in Denmark, Japan and the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, China of the appearance of H1N1 vi...

  Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 briefing note 2 WHO recommendations on pandemic (H1N1) 2009 vaccines   The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization held an extraord...

  Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 briefing note 3 Changes in reporting requirements for pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus infectionAs the 2009 pandemic evolves, the data needed for risk assessment, b...

At least 16 civilians have been killed and five wounded after a helicopter crashed near a military base in southern Afghanistan, Nato officials said.The helicopter crashed while taking off from th...

    Supporters of Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, have celebrated the anti-apartheid icon's 91st birthday with the launch of a special day in his name.Mandela cel...

    Britain has said it will take back more than 1,400 tonnes of toxic waste exported to Brazil in containers apparently wrongly marked as containing plastic for recycling.The UK's env...

  Russian human rights group Memorial has suspended its work in Chechnya following the murder of Natalia Estemirova, one of the most outspoken activists of the organisation.Russia's Ekho Mos...

        Jerusalem officials have approved plans for 20 apartments to replace the Shepherd hotel [AFP]The Israeli prime minister had defied US demands to suspend a set...

Iceland's parliament has voted to apply for membership of the European Union in a move that would surrender some of its independence in the name of stability.In a fiercely debated motion, members ...

Two retired generals are among 56 people who have gone on trial in Turkey over an alleged coup plot in a case that has deepened the rifts between secularists and the country's Islamic-leaning gove...

A UN war crimes court has sentenced two Bosnian Serb cousins to life and 30 years in jail respectively for burning scores of Muslims to death during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.Milan and Sredoje Lukic...

Japan's prime minister has formally dissolved the lower house of parliament and called a general election on August 30, saying he plans to "start afresh" following a string of defeats for his part...

A panel ordered by Barack Obama to develop new US policy on the detention of so-called terrorism suspects as part of his effort to shut the Guantanamo prison, has delayed its report to the preside...

    Spain's foreign minister is to visit Gibraltar, the disputed British colony, becoming the first member of government to make the trip in 300 years. Miguel Angel Moratinos will...

    At least 10 people have been killed after suspected Taliban fighters launched attacks on government buildings in the provinces of Paktia and Nangarhar, US officials and local ...

Saudi security forces are secretly holding more than 3,000 suspected members of al-Qaeda and other groups as part of a sweeping crackdown on "terrorism" in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attac...

Britain's public sector debt has reached $1.3 trillion - the highest amount since records began 35 years ago.The total - equivalent to 56.6 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) -...

Washington "strongly supports" Ukraine's plans to join the Nato military alliance, the US vice-president has said during a visit to the former Soviet republic."We do not recognise ... anyone else'...

The US secretary of state has raised concerns about the possibility of nuclear links between atomic-armed North Korea and military-ruled Myanmar."We worry about [the] transfer of nuclear technolog...

Sudan is preparing for a court ruling that will settle a border dispute in the oil-rich district of Abyei, which has been a flashpoint for tensions between the Khartoum government and former rebel...

The United Nations says it needs $5bn to help the world's poor this year, warning that the need for aid has never been greater.John Holmes, the UN humanitarian chief, said on Tuesday that more tha...

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has pulled out of the country's first major televised presidential debate ahead of elections scheduled for August 20. The debate between Ka...

Voters in the former Soviet state of Kyrgyzstan have begun casting their ballots in an election widely expected to return Kurmanbek Bakiev, the incumbent president, to power.Some 2.7 million peopl...

Arab health officials have agreed to restrict certain groups from performing the annual Muslim pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia this year amid growing concerns about the H1N1 flu pandemic. Those c...

North Korea has "no friends left" to protect it from international efforts to convince it to abandon its nuclear weapons programme, the US secretary of state has said.Speaking at an Asia-Pacific s...

The commander of the Taliban in Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley is alive and has not been wounded in battle, his spokesman has said.Muslim Khan, speaking by telephone on Thursday from an undis...

Honduras's deposed president appears close to attempting another risky return home, having arrived at a Nicaraguan town near the border with his country.Manuel Zelaya drove in to the northern town...

When Im Chun-yong made his daring escape from North Korea, with a handful of his special forces men, there were many reasons why the North Korean government was intent on stopping them.They were, ...

The Iraqi prime minister has admitted US troops could stay in the country beyond 2011.Under the US-Iraq Status of Forces agreement, which sets out a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from ...

Partial results from Kyrgyzstan's presidential election have given Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the incumbent, an overwhelming lead of 90 per cent of the votes that have been counted.But the leading opposit...

  The trial of Myanmar's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is set to resume in Yangon with lawyers due to present their final arguments.Her defence team has told the Thailand-based Irrawa...

 A system that can deliver power to devices without the need for wires has been shown off at a hi-tech conference.The technique exploits simple physics and can be used to charge a range of el...

    The French president has been hospitalised after collapsing while jogging.Nicolas Sarkozy fell while running in a park around the Versailles Palace on Sunday."The president was tak...

At least five people have been killed after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a concert hall in the Russian republic of Chechnya, reports say.Four police officers who tried to stop the suicide b...

British legislators have urged the government to talk to Hamas, saying that the West's policy of shunning the Palestinian group was showing little sign of success.Russia is the only member of the ...

Raul Castro, the president of Cuba, has marked the country's Revolution Day with a warning that tough economic times may lie ahead due to the effects of the global financial crisis.Castro addresse...

The Iranian president has sacked two of his ministers in a dispute over the appointment of the nation's first vice-president.Mehr news agency reported on Sunday that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed ...

A vice-presidential candidate in Afghanistan's upcoming election has escaped unharmed from an attack on his convoy in the country's north, Afghan officials have said.Armed men ambushed the convoy ...

George Mitchell, the US envoy to the Middle East, has reaffirmed Washington's friendship with Israel during a visit aimed at pushing for renewed peace efforts in the region.Mitchell met Ehud Barak...

Turkish police have detained nearly 200 suspected members of the organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir in raids in 23 provinces across the country.Police said they confiscated a number of documents on Frida...

Security forces in Nigeria have been placed on high alert after two days of clashes between police and Islamist fighters that has left more than 100 people dead.Armed police manned roadblocks and ...

George Mitchell, the US envoy to the Middle East, has met Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, as part of a push to establish a comprehensive regional peace deal.The former US senator s...

The US secretary of state plans to meet the president of Somalia's transitional government during a seven-nation trip to Africa next week, the State Department has said.Hillary Clinton will meet S...

Iran's industry minister has been found guilty of fraud, dealing a fresh blow to his close ally Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president.Ali Akbar Mehrabian was convicted by an Iranian court over claims...

David Miliband, Britain's foreign minister, has called on the Afghan government to divide the Taliban by opening talks with moderate fighters.In a speech at Nato's headquarters in Brussels, Miliba...

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president has left hospital a day after he collapsed while jogging in a park outside Paris.Doctors found no sign of heart or neurological trouble, the president's offic...

Gunmen have killed eight security guards and stolen about $6.5m in cash during a break-in at a bank in central Baghdad, Iraqi police have said.The robbery on Tuesday was the second in a week in Ba...

A car bomb has exploded outside a civil guard barracks in the northern Spanish city of Burgos, the police have said.Local media reported dozens of people were slightly injured in the blast on Wedn...

At least 15 Haitian migrants have drowned and at least 65 more are missing after their boat capsized off the Turks and Caicos islands, local police and the US coast guard have said.The authorities...

China and the US have wrapped up two days of high-level strategic talks pledging closer cooperation on measures to revive the global economy and increased diplomatic efforts to rein in the nuclear...

Thousands of Somalis are preparing to cross the perilous waters of the Gulf of Aden to Yemen to escape the heavy fighting in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, the UN refugee agency has said.About 12,...

Nigerian troops mounted an offensive in Maiduguri, cracking down on Boko Haram [AFP]Nigerian troops are hunting for the remnants of Boko Haram, an Islamist group that went on a killing spree in th...

A court in Myanmar has delayed its verdict in the trial of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's until August 11.Chad Jacinto, the charge d'affaires in the Philippine embassy in Yangon who...

The Israeli government has said that its war on the Gaza Strip earlier this year, that left up to 1,417 Palestinians dead, was "necessary and proportionate".The government also said on Thursday th...

Barack Obama, the US president, has hosted a black professor and white police officer in an attempt to diffuse a simmering race row that  erupted when Henry Louis Gates Jr was arrested by Ser...

Mohammed Yusuf, the leader of the Nigerian Islamic group, Boko Haram, has reportedly been shot dead while in police detention.Yusuf, blamed by police for violence that killed hundreds of people in...

The US president has praised the Philippine government for trying to restore peace in its volatile southern region.Barack Obama made the comments when he hosted his Philippine counterpart Glorio A...

Two officers have been killed in a car bomb blast near a civil guard barracks on the Spanish island of Mallorca.Several people were also injured in the blast, which occured in the town of Palmanov...

Moldova's opposition liberal parties have said that they will try to form a coalition government after the ruling Communist party failed to win a majority in parliamentary elections. With 98 per c...

Sufi Mohammed, the pro-Taliban cleric who negotiated a failed Swat valley peace deal in February, is facing charges of aiding terrorism and sedition. The charges were lodged against Mohammed,...

The United States and the UN have condemned Israel's forcible eviction of two Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem.Washington sent a letter to the Israeli foreign ministry in Je...

Anders Fog Rasmussen, the former Danish prime minister, is due to start his first day at work as head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).Denmark's former leader took up his duties on...

A search opertion has begun in Indonesia's eastern region of Papua after a passenger plane with 16 people went missing on Sunday.The aircraft, a propeller-driven Twin Otter owned by Merpati airlin...

US economic growth is highly likely to resume in the second half of the year, senior US administration officials have said.But Timothy Geithner, the treasury secretary, warned in an interview with...

The head of a UK parliamentary counter-terrorism committee has called for the government to clarify whether al-Qaeda operatives have tried to infiltrate the MI5 domestic security agency.Patrick Me...

The United States and the UN have condemned Israel's forcible eviction of two Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem.Washington sent a letter to the Israeli foreign ministry in Je...

At least 12 people, including a child, have been killed and another 26 wounded in a bomb blast in western Afghanistan.Police officials said that the blast in the province of Herat on Monday had ta...

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has officially endorsed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the winner of the country's June presidential election.Monday's endorsement of Ahamdinejad's victory c...

Somali pirates have reportedly received a $2.7 million ransom for the release of a German ship and its crew.Pirates have been holding the ship, Hansa, with five Germans, three Russians, two Ukrain...

Nigeria will hold an official inquiry into the heavy unrest that has left hundreds of people dead in the country's north, the president of Nigeria's senate has told Al Jazeera.David Mark said on S...

Authorities in China have imposed a quarantine on a remote town in the country's northwest amid an outbreak of pneumonic plague that has killed two people and triggered a health alert.About a doze...

Members of the Palestinan Fatah movement are gathering in the West Bank city of Bethlehem for the first party congress in two decades.More than 2,000 delegates will attend the three-day meeting, w...

Bill Clinton, the former US president, has arrived in North Korea on an unannounced visit apparently aimed at negotiating the release of two American journalists.Clinton, who flew in to Pyongyang ...

Australian police have arrested four men in Melbourne suspected of planning a "suicide terrorist attack", in one of the biggest counter-terrorism operations in the country.A 25-year-old man was ch...

At least seven rockets have been fired into the heart of the Afghan capital, Kabul, in a rare attack that comes less than three weeks before presidential elections.Police said that at least one ch...

Members of a Venezuelan party that supports Hugo Chavez, the country's president, have stormed the head office of an opposition television station.Activists with the Venezuelan People's Union (UPV...

Karlheinz Schreiber, a key figure in a political party financing scandal involving Helmut Kohl, Germany's former chancellor, has been extradited to Germany from Canada to face criminal charges aft...

  Georgia's foreign ministry has accused Russia of attempting to move the South Ossetian border deeper into Georgian territory, increasing tensions between Tbilisi and Moscow.The ministry sa...

The trial of a Sudanese journalist, who could face a flogging for wearing trousers, is set to resume after she waived the immunity she had been granted as a United Nations worker.Lubna Ahmed al-Hu...

The British government is hiding behind a "wall of secrecy" over claims its agents were complicit in the torture of "terrorism" suspects, a parliamentary committee has said.The MPs said that the B...

  Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has told Fatah activists that the Palestinian movement seeks peace with Israel, but that "resistance" remains a right.Abbas made his comments to m...

At least one person has been killed and 10 others injured when a passenger aircraft skidded off the runway and crashed as it came into land in heavy rain at the Thai resort island of Koh Samui.The...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been sworn in for a second term as Iran's president, nearly eight weeks after a a landslide election victory disputed by opposition candidates.Ahmadinejad took the oath of ...

North Korea has released two American journalists jailed for illegally entering the country following a visit by Bill Clinton, the former US president, North Korean state media says.Less than 24 h...

Funeral services have begun in Manila for Corazon Aquino, the former Philippine president, who died at the weekend after a long fight with cancer.The Roman Catholic mass on Wednesday morning saw M...

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has arrived in Kenya as part of an African tour to push her government's commitment to tackling the continent's trouble spots.The seven-nation trip come...

Niger's citizens have gone to the polls in a constitutional referendum which could pave the way for Mamadou Tandja, the president, to remain in power.Polls opened on Tuesday in the controversial v...

Five people have been killed in a blast in the Shahjoy district of Afghanistan's southern Zabul province, officials said.Police said a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest near an Afghan in...

The emergency rule imposed in Pakistan two years ago by Pervez Musharraf, the country's former president, was unconstitutional, the country's supreme court has ruled.Many Pakistanis gathered at si...

Liverpool have agreed a deal to sell Spain midfielder Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid.The 27-year-old, who has been with English Premier League club Liverpool for five seasons, will move for an undiscl...

Greek side Panathinaikos, who reached the last 16 of the Champions League last season, overturned a 3-1 first leg deficit against Czech club Sparta Prague, winning the second leg 3-0 in Athens.Isr...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been sworn in for a second term as Iran's president, hailing his re-election as "the start of major change in Iran and in the world".After taking the oath of office before ...

Two US journalists freed from North Korean detention have returned home with Bill Clinton, the former US president, who secured their release.Laura Ling and Euna Lee landed at the Burbank airport ...

Scottish side Celtic ended a six-year wait for an away victory in Europe, the former European champions winning 2-0 at Dinamo Moscow to seal a place in the playoff round for the Champions League g...

The kickoff to the Argentine domestic football season has been suspended indefinitely, while the game's national governing body seeks a solution to clubs' massive debts.Bussed-in protesters also a...

A Russian military court in Moscow has opened a new trial into the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist and staunch critic of the Kremlin, who was shot in 2006.Sergei Khadzhik...

Georgia has denied Russian accusations that it is "aggressively rearming," as the two countries kept up a war of words ahead of Friday's anniversary of their conflict over the breakaway regions of...

The new leader of the Tamil Tiger separatist group defeated by the Sri Lankan military in May after a 25-year war has been arrested, the military says.Selvarajah Pathmanathan was wanted on two Int...

Pakistan authorities are investigating reports that Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, was killed in a missile attack in the South Waziristan region."We suspect he was killed...

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has pledged strong support for Somalia's fragile government as it battles Islamist fighters across the country.Clinton made the promise during talks wit...

South Korean workers who had occupied an auto plant belonging to troubled carmaker Ssangyong have ended a two-month old strike, the company has said.The strikes sparked violent clashes in which ne...

The Bank of England has taken a far bigger step than expected to boost Britain's recession-hit economy by expanding its quantitative easing (QE) programme to $295bn from $210bn.The decison by the ...

Taiwan authorities have launched a massive operation to find tens of thousands of people unaccounted for in the wake of floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Morakot.Large parts of the south ...

A court in Myanmar is expected to deliver its verdict in the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's detained opposition leader, who could face up to five years in jail if found guilty.The verdic...

The leadership of the Palestinian Fatah movement has been overhauled after a vote by party delegates gathered at a conference in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, early results have shown.Less than...

    The leadership of the Palestinian Fatah movement has been overhauled after a vote by party delegates gathered at a conference in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, early results have...

The head of a Chechnya-based charity and her husband have been kidnapped by armed men in Grozny, the capital of the Russian republic, human rights workers have said.Unidentified armed men entered ...

Youths set fire to vehicles and threw stones and other objects at police as a second night of rioting broke out in the French capital, Paris.The unrest in the eastern suburb of Bagnolet early on T...

At least two civilians and three Afghan police officers have been killed after the Taliban attacked a governors' compound and election office near Kabul, just 10 days before the country's election...

Taiwan's government is sending 4,000 more soldiers to boost rescue efforts in the storm-devastated south, where a build-up of water is posing a new threat to villages which had earlier escaped the...

A former Libyan agent jailed for the bombing of a passenger aircraft over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 is to be released on compassionate grounds, British media reports say.Abdel Basset ...

Military officials in the Philippines say at least 23 soldiers have been killed after government forces launched what they called a "decisive" operation against the Abu Sayyaf in the south of the ...

The heads of Japan's main political parties have battled it out in a televised debate ahead of national elections on August 30 widely expected to usher in a dramatic change in the country's politi...

Clashes between government troops and Shia fighters in northern Yemen have reportedly left dozens of people dead, as conflict in the country escalates.Troops backed by tanks and aircraft attacked ...

China has promised to make "controlling greenhouse gas emissions" a key part of future development plans, blaming global warming for worsening droughts, floods and melting glaciers.A statement rel...

The UN Security Council has failed to agree on a statement condemning Myanmar for extending Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest, a verdict the opposition leader called "totally unfair".Diplomats cance...

At least 70 people are reported to have been killed and dozens injured in a major battle between Taliban fighters and another tribal group in Pakistan.The fighting in South Waziristan erupted when...

Authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo have arrested a man accused of planning the massacre of at least 2,000 Rwandan Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.Government officials announced th...

  Danish police have clashed with protesters as they moved to arrest a group of 17 Iraqis who had taken refuge in a Copenhagen church following the rejection of their asylum applications.Pol...

    At least 17 people are reported to have been killed and 26 others wounded after two suicide bombers hit a coffee shop near the northern city of Mosul. Police said that t...

  The US defence secretary has said there is a possibility of an increased military presence in Afghanistan, but warned that such a move would stretch military resources and could lead to a ...

Israeli soldiers unlawfully shot and killed 11 Palestinian civilians, including four children, who were in groups waving white flags during the Gaza war, a report prepared by the US-based Human Ri...

Taiwan has issued an appeal for international help, including heavy lift helicopters, as it steps up efforts to locate and rescue the thousands of people still missing or stranded as a result of T...

Rivals for the Afghan presidency have entered their final day of campaigning, with the threat of violence looming over the polls.Hamid Karzai, the incumbent president, and Abdullah Abdullah, his m...

Nigerian police have detained hundreds of people belonging to an Islamic community in the state of Niger.The arrests on Saturday came weeks after a radical sect killed almost 800 people in the nor...

A Zambian court has cleared  Frederick Chiluba, the former president, of corruption charges after a six-year trial.A magistrate in the Lusaka court said on Monday that the prosecution team ha...

Mexico has replaced all 700 of its customs inspectors in a bid to stamp out corruption and drug smuggling.Sunday's shake-up also doubled the size of the country's customs inspection force, with mo...

A Russian ship and its crew which mysteriously disappeared off the coast of France last month has been found near Cape Verde, Anatoly Serdyukov, Russia's defence minister, has said.The Arctic Sea ...

The bodies of seven suspected pirates have washed up on the shores of Somalia after a group of Egyptian fishermen overpowered them to escape following four months in captivity.Witnesses told Al Ja...

    Three men have been indicted in the US for allegedly stealing information from at least 130 million credit and debit cards in the largest hacking and identity theft case in th...

Egypt's president has held talks with the US secretary of state on his first visit to Washington in five years.Hosni Mubarak met Hillary Clinton on Monday, a day before he is due to meet Barack Ob...

    Kim Dae-jung, the former South Korean president famous for his "Sunshine Policy" of engagement with rival North Korea has died, hospital officials in Seoul have said. The 85-...

A mortar has hit the presidential palace in Kabul, with another rocket striking the police headquarters nearby two days before Afghanistan's presidential election.There were no immediate reports o...

The Afghan government has called for an international media blackout on reporting violent acts on the day of its presidential elections, following a series of attacks across the country.The Taliba...

Barack Obama, the US president, has said that there has been "movement in the right direction" on Israel's policy of building settlements on occupied Palestinian land, after talks with Egypt's pre...

South Korea is preparing for its first space launch, which if successful will make it the latest nation to join the region's space race and the 10th in the world to send its own communications sat...

Police officers in Romania have rallied in the capital, Bucharest, protesting over unpaid overtime, financial cuts and alleged corruption in the interior ministry.About 300 protesting officers ble...

Afghans have begun voting in the country's national elections amid tight security and threats of violence from the Taliban.About 17 million people are eligible to vote, with 6,500 polling stations...

Hundreds killed and hurt in Baghdad  At least 95 people have been killed and 500 injured in six blasts near the government and diplomatic "Green Zone" in the centre of the Iraqi capital, Bagh...

  A court in Scotland is set to announce whether it will release a Libyan man jailed for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 that killed 270 people over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.Kenny...

  The United States and Switzerland have signed a deal to resolve a tax evasion dispute concerning the accounts of US customers of UBS, the Swiss banking group.UBS will give tax authorities i...

French police have arrested three men suspected of being members of Eta, the Basque separatist group, and seized bomb-making materials, officials said.Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, Spain's interior min...

South Korea has suspended its first space launch, with just seven minutes left before the planned rocket take-off.The reason for the postponement of the launch, planned for 07:40 GMT on Wednesday ...

A Libyan man jailed for the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over the Scottish town of Lockerbie has been greeted by scenes of celebration on his return to Libya.Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, a former in...

UN inspectors have visited the site of a nearly completed Iranian nuclear reactor for the first time in a year, foreign diplomats have said.Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (...

Heavy fighting in Somalia has left at least 15 people dead as government soldiers and al-Shabab fighters battle for control of strategic towns.Fighting started in Bula Burte, a town north of Mogad...

China's government fears anger over such cases could shake the social stability it values so highly [AFP]Chinese authorities have detained two factory officials after more than 1,300 children fell...

Security was tight after the Taliban threatened to attack voters and polling stations [Reuters]Vote counting in Afghanistan's second direct presidential election is under way after polls closed fo...

  A drop in gale-force winds has offered a respite to Greek firefighters struggling to control a raging fire near Athens.But fire officials warned in the early hours of Monday, the third day...

A diplomatic row between Sweden and Israel has intensified, with Israeli politicians urging Stockholm to condemn a newspaper article they have described as "blood libel".In the report, published i...

A Malaysian Muslim woman who had been sentenced to be caned for drinking beer in a hotel has been granted a reprieve until after Ramadan, religious official have said.Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 3...

Chinese authorities are expected to begin the trials this week of some 200 people accused of involvement in last month's deadly riots in the western region of Xinjiang, according to state media.Se...

The situation in Afghanistan is "deteriorating", the top US military officer has said, amid waning US public support for the war.Furthermore, the Taliban's tactics are becoming more sophisticated,...

The Iraqi military has released a video of a Saddam Hussein loyalist apparently confessing to co-ordinating one of two truck bombings that killed 95 people in Baghdad last week.Wissam Ali Kadhem, ...

The US attorney-general has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of abuse by the CIA during interrogations.Eric Holder's appointment of John Durham, a federal prosecutor, come...

A group of Shia Muslim parties in Iraq have formed a coalition ahead of January's election, but Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, has not joined the bloc.The coalition will include the Iranian-...

The United Nations has warned that parts of southern Sudan could be in pre-famine conditions, with 1.3 million people across the country in need of food aid.The number of people needing assistance...

At least 11 people have been killed and three others are missing after an explosion at a coal mine in northern China, in the latest in a series of deadly mining accidents in the country.Rescuers f...

The US space agency Nasa has fuelled the space shuttle Discovery and it is expected to lift off for the International Space Station at 1:36am (05:36 GMT) on Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Centre i...

The Sri Lankan High Commission has denied its forces carried out atrocities against ethnic Tamils after a video apparently showing a man being executed by Sri Lankan soldiers was aired on British ...

A car bomb explosion in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar has left about 40 people dead.Police said the blast on Tuesday was a suicide attack near a wedding hall in a residential area of the ci...

        Venezuela's president has said that he is preparing to break off ties with Colombia over its decision to grant the US military increased access to military ba...

Candidates in Japan's general election have begun a final push for votes in a campaign that polls say could lead to a seismic change in the country's political landscape.Taro Aso, the Japanese pri...

Lawyers for Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's detained opposition leader, have said they will file an appeal next week against the criminal conviction that extended her house arrest by another 18 months...

Saudi Arabia's assistant interior minister has survived an assassination attempt in the Red Sea port of Jeddah, the country's state news agency reports.Prince Muhammed bin Nayef was meeting with w...

  The man expected to be Japan's next prime minister has vowed that his party will not "bulldoze" its policies through parliament despite securing a landslide election win.With his party exp...

The Israeli authorities have charged Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, with corruption.The indictments include illegal acceptance of funds from an American supporter and double-billing for f...

Hamid Karzai has won 54.1 per cent of the vote in the race for the Afghan presidency - above the 50 per cent needed to avoid a run-off poll, partial results indicate.The results, announced on Tues...

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, has said she "deeply regrets" the loss of any innocent life in Afghanistan, but rejected criticism over a Nato airstrike ordered by a German commander tha...

  Many of the pirates operating off the coast of Somalia were given special forces-style training from Western firms, a special report by Al Jazeera has found. Some security firms cur...

Three Britons have been found guilty of plotting to kill thousands of people by blowing up transatlantic airliners bound for North America.Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, Tanvir Hussain, 28, and Assad Sarw...

  France's partially state-owned electric and gas utility has signed a nuclear co-operation with two Brazilian companies during a state visit to Brazil by Nicolas Sarkozy, France's pres...

  At least 23 people have been killed in flash floods in the city of Istanbul, Turkey, while cars have been left stranded across roads and highways. The dead included seven women ...

  A British journalist has been freed and an Afghan reporter killed in a raid aimed at securing the pair's release from their Taliban captors in Afghanistan.Stephen Farrell, a reporter for t...

Incumbent Hamid Karzai appears to have won Afghanistan's presidential elections, with nearly all the votes counted, but a UN-backed commission says it has "clear and convincing evidence of fraud"....

The International Atomic Energy Agency has appointed Yukiya Amano as its new director-general.Amano's appointment was approved by the 150 members of the UN's nuclear watchdog on Monday, the first ...

A helicopter raid in southern Somalia has killed a man wanted for questioning over the bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya in 2002, unnamed US sources say.Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan was killed ...

The US president has called for major reform of the country's financial regulatory system, a year to the day that investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed and sparked a global recession.Barack Ob...

Three men found guilty of planning to bring down transatlantic planes using liquid explosives have been sentenced in London to between 32 and 40 years in jail.Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, the ringleader...

Yukio Hatoyama is set to be made Japan's new prime minister after the man he defeated in elections last month formally stepped down along with his entire cabinet.Taro Aso and his cabinet resigned ...

The most senior military officer in the United States has said that more American troops will probably be needed to bring security to Afghanistan, during an address in Washington.Admiral Mike Mull...

Fighters have fired mortars at Baghdad's fortified Green Zone government district, just hours after Joe Biden, the US vice-president, arrived in the capital for an unannounced visit.Two Iraqi civi...

Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the television reporter jailed for throwing his shoes at George Bush, the former US president, has left Iraq after being released from prison.He flew to Syria on a private jet ...

Silvio Berlusconi: 'We are all convinced that we have to get out of Afghanistan as soon as possible' [AFP]The Italian prime minister has called for international forces to withdraw from Afghanista...

The suspected mastermind of suicide attacks on two luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital in July has been killed in a raid on a house in Java, police say.Noordin Mohammed Top, Indonesia's most w...

The US has halted the missile defence shield programme in Europe devised under former President George Bush, saying the threat from Iran's long-range missiles was not as serious as originally beli...

Trafigura, an international oil company, could be close to offering compensation to 31,000 people who said they became ill from toxic waste dumped in the west African nation Ivory Coast, the compa...

Barack Obama, the US president, has called on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to take urgent steps to unblock the Middle East peace process.The three-way talks, held on Tuesday on the sidelines of...

Barack Obama, the US president, has said the world must address climate change now or suffer an "irreversible catastrophe", at a high-level summit on climate change at the United Nations headquart...

The de facto Honduran government has said that it is willing to talk to Manuel Zelaya if the ousted president recognises the legality of presidential elections scheduled for November."I will talk ...

  Fresh floods have covered large areas of the northern Philippines after days of heavy rain from the remnants of Typhoon Parma.The flooding and landslides in the northern part of the main is...

Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, has said he will go on television and appear in court to prove that corruption and tax fraud charges in two trials against him are false. The trials ...

 The UN's climate chief has warned that time is running out for negotiators to agree on crucial targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.With two weeks of talks due to wrap up in Bangkok...

The Palestinian Authority appears to be attempting an about turn on endorsing the Goldstone report that criticises Israel's conduct in its war on Gaza.The Palestinian representative to the United ...

Government officials and aid agencies are warning of food shortages in India in the aftermath of deadly floods that swept several of its southern states.With large tracts of farm land inundated an...

Oct. 10  -- The award of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama caught the winner off guard, divided Washington along familiar partisan lines and left foreign-policy experts and...

  Charles Lindbergh famously fell asleep while crossing the Atlantic, and despite strict federal rules against it, experienced airline pilots say it's not uncommon to sneak a nap inside the ...

Nov. 6 At a McDonald's Corp. test kitchen in an unmarked Illinois warehouse, next year's menu plan for the U.K. has hit a snag. When the visiting British team adds wrap sandwiches, service slows. ...

Are you ready to have fun and save money? An exciting new time is arriving in Cyprus this weekend.  Imagine being able to purchase brand-new items for a fraction of their price: ...

    A powerful aftershock has hit Haiti eight days after an earthquake devastated the Caribbean country, complicating relief efforts already fraught with difficulty.There were no immed...

The incoming Honduran president has agreed to offer Manuel Zelaya, the ousted leader, safe passage to the Dominican Republic.Porfirio Lobo said on Wednesday that Zelaya, who was deposed in a coup ...