World

Iran's controversial nuclear drive tops the agenda at a week-long meeting of the UN atomic watchdog starting here Monday as world powers are poised to slap new sanctions on Tehran.

Israel rejected on Sunday a proposal by UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon for an international investigation into its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship and said it had the right to launch its own inquiry.

US Vice President Joe Biden meets Monday Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak amid mounting regional tension over a deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid convoy.

BP has said it is capturing some 10,000 barrels of crude a day from the ruptured Gulf well, raising hopes it could be containing most of the oil now feeding the worst spill in US history.

The sons of a cab driver who killed 12 people in a gun rampage across rural northwestern England described him as "the nicest man you could ever meet" Sunday, adding they were baffled by his crimes.

Pope Benedict XVI wrapped up a visit to Cyprus on Sunday with his eyes on the troubled Middle East, calling for an end to bloodshed and highlighting the plight of the region's Christians.

Iranian opposition champion Mir Hossein Mousavi has hit back at accusations by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that he was siding with Tehran's foes, charging that it was the regime that was playing into their hands.

In the 1930s, American detergent companies began sponsoring radio dramas and later television serials aimed at housewives. Such "soap operas" as "Guiding Light" and "As the World Turns" shaped opinions of life in capitalist, democratic societies. But for many reasons, American soaps have faded, ceding place to telenovelas from Mexico and Brazil that have cast a spell on viewers around the globe.

The incoming Philippine administration of Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III is starting to take shape with a slap in the face for outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Noynoy has appointed several members of Arroyo's administration who resigned in 2005 in anger over massive electoral irregularities in her 2004 presidential campaign.

Deep rift continues between pro and anti-whaling members of the International Whaling Commission as Australia lodged legal action in the International Court of Justice against Japanese ‘scientific’ whaling, calling for a permanent end to all whaling in the Southern Ocean, an established whale sanctuary and a critical feeding ground for the mighty mammals.

US president said he was "furious" about the oil disaster on the eve of his third visit to Louisiana as the government sent BP a 69-million-dollar bill for its efforts to curb the 45-day-old leak.

Rescuers called off the search for survivors Friday as the death toll from one of Bangladesh's worst fires rose to 108 after flames ripped through a packed neighbourhood of Dhaka, officials said.

A North Korean diplomat said Thursday that tensions on the Korean peninsula were running so high over the sinking of a South Korean warship that "war may break out at any moment."

The United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday voted to set up an independent fact-finding mission to look into what it called violations of international law in Israel's raid on a Gaza aid flotilla.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak suffered a setback to his hardline policy on North Korea and domestic reform agenda Thursday, with voters turning against his party in local elections.

Japan's Finance Minister Naoto Kan emerged Thursday as the leading candidate to replace Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who resigned over a US base dispute and political funding scandals.

The first two of three planes carrying 466 activists from the Gaza-bound aid flotilla intercepted by Israeli forces has arrived in Istanbul from Israel, Turkey's deputy prime minister said Thursday.

Japan's centre-left Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama tearfully resigned Wednesday, just nine months after a stunning election win, his brief reign derailed by a row over an unpopular US airbase.

Global military expenditures soared to a record high last year, unscathed by the economic downturn, with the US accounting for more than half of increase, a think tank said Wednesday.

Israel said on Tuesday it will deport all the foreign activists its forces detained during a botched raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that killed nine people, after mounting pressure to do so.

Global leaders demanded an independent probe Tuesday into Israel's deadly commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla and the release of their seized citizens, as tens of thousands protested worldwide.

Japan's embattled prime minister insisted today he would stay in his job despite press speculation he may step down ahead of upper house elections next month.

Al-Qaeda has announced the death of Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, its number three leader and Osama bin Laden's one-time top money man, in what would be a major blow to the global terror network.