KAMPALA - An overloaded boat capsized on the Ugandan side of Lake Albert overnight, killing at least 33 people, in the second such disaster to strike the country in two weeks, police said Monday.The boat capsized on Lake Albert, Africa`s seventh largest lake, which lies in northwestern

WASHINGTON - The United States will end its combat mission in Iraq as scheduled on August 31 despite a recent flare-up in violence, President Barack Obama said in a speech prepared for delivery Monday."Shortly after taking office, I announced our new strategy for Iraq and for a transition

TEHRAN: Hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday he was ready for "face-to-face" talks with his US counterpart Barack Obama on issues concerning the international community."We are hopefully coming for the UN assembly," Ahmadinejad said in an address to expatriate

KANDAHAR - A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar on Monday, killing five children and injuring one other, a police official told AFP."Five children were killed in the first blast and one child is wounded," said Kandahar deputy police chief

SEOUL - The United States hopes new sanctions on North Korea will be strong enough to discourage "provocative activities" and encourage it to scrap its nuclear weapons programme, a senior US envoy said Monday.Robert Einhorn said Washington wants measures "that provide strong incentives

JOHANNESBURG - A fire swept through a home for the elderly near Johannesburg, killing 18 people and leaving 84 homeless during the night, paramedics said Monday."Eighteen people are dead and 84 rescued," private emergency services provider Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha told AFP."The

KANDAHAR - A suicide bomber killed four civilians on Monday in Afghanistan`s southern Kandahar province, an official said, as violence escalates ahead of an anti-insurgent offensive by U.S. and NATO troops.              The bomber was on foot and the target seemed to have

JERUSALEM - At least five rockets fell in and around the southern Israeli resort of Eilat at about 7:45 am (0445 GMT) on Monday but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, Israel police said.At about the same time, a Grad-type rocket slammed into the Jordanian port of

SANAA: Yemeni Shiite rebels on Sunday set free 100 soldiers captured in recent fighting, days after announcing the release of 200 other troops, a mediator told AFP.Sheikh Hassan bin Abdullah al-Ahmar said the latest batch of soldiers released had been held by the Huthi rebels in the

MOSCOW: Chechnya`s guerrilla chief and self-proclaimed "Emir of the Caucasus" Doku Umarov announced Sunday he was stepping down in a video posted on YouTube."We have unanimously decided that I shall leave my post today," said the bearded rebel fighter who claimed to be behind the Moscow

BRASILIA: Six sites located in Brazil, China, Mexico, France`s Reunion Island and the South Pacific nation of Kiribati won World Heritage status Sunday from a UNESCO panel meeting in Brazil.Four existing World Heritage sites were also expanded to include nearby natural or cultural

WASHINGTON: A failure of the cooling system on the International Space Station forced astronauts to reroute power Sunday as NASA planned emergency spacewalks to fix the problem.One of two cooling loops shut down Saturday night, triggering alarms throughout the orbiting station, which is

HAVANA: With government plans afoot to reshape Cuba`s work force by cutting the bloat out of some payrolls, President Raul Castro said Sunday he would allow more small private businesses.The economy is 95 percent in state hands at the moment. Castro`s move is aimed at limiting the

SRINAGAR: A third straight day of clashes between security forces and anti-India protesters in Kashmir killed seven people Sunday, four of them in blasts triggered by an attack on a police station.Despite strict curfews across the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley -- including the main city

PESHAWAR: The death toll from Pakistan`s worst floods in living memory stood at over 1,100 on Monday, with water-borne disease emerging as a threat to survivors.More than 1.5 million people have been affected by flash floods and landslides brought on by monsoon rain in the northwest

SRINAGAR - Three protesters, including a girl, were killed Sunday in Indian Kashmir, taking to nine the number of young people shot dead by security forces in three days of street clashes, police said.The latest casualties mark the deadliest phase in the Muslim-majority Himalayan

KABUL - Dutch troops ended their mission in Afghanistan Sunday after four "proud" years, in a departure experts say signals the beginning of a drawdown of foreign forces that will leave a worrying void.The pull-out is the first significant drawdown of troops from the Afghan war, now in

ISLAMABAD, August 1, 2010 (AFP) - The death toll in the worst flooding to hit Pakistan topped 1,000, officials said on Sunday."More than 1,000 people have been killed by floods in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province," provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told

MUZAFFARABAD: The death toll from floods in Pakistan passed 900 on Sunday as nearly 50 people were confirmed dead in the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, officials said."Forty-seven people have been killed and another 39 injured by floods in different parts of Muzaffarabad" since

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Six civilians were killed on Sunday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan`s southern Kandahar province, an official said, as civilian casualties continued to mount amid an increase in violence by insurgents.Nine civilians were wounded in the blast, which hit