BIRMINGHAM: Pope Benedict XVI flew out of Britain Sunday after an historic four-day state visit, as Prime Minister David Cameron said he had made people "sit up and think."The pope departed from Birmingham, central England, at 6:45 pm (1745 GMT) on board an Alitalia plane and was due to

NOUAKCHOTT: Mauritania warplanes attacked militants of Al-Qaeda`s north African wing in northern Mali, senior officers said Sunday, but several politicians in Mali said the strikes had killed civilians.A Mauritanian military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP the

HAMILTON: Tiny, remote Bermuda found itself late Sunday at the mercy of giant Hurricane Igor, which whipped the territory with fierce winds and rain that authorities fear could spell disaster.The brunt of the unusually large storm, whose eye was bigger than the entire British overseas

BRASILIA: A forest fire was burning out of control Sunday across a big swath of national park very near Brazil`s capital Brasilia, management of the park told AFP.More than 140 firefighters were battling the blaze, which was suspected to have been deliberately started in the dry brushland

NEW YORK: Iran urged the United States on Sunday to free eight Iranians as a "humanitarian gesture," while freed American hiker Sarah Shourd made an emotional plea for the release of two compatriots."Iran was the country that released Sarah. We haven`t even received a note from the United

BERLIN: A woman opened fire in a hospital in Germany`s southwestern town of Loerrach Sunday in a shooting in which she and three other people were killed, police told AFP."According to our information, there were four deaths," said a spokesman for police in the Freiburg region, speaking

MADRID: Basque separatists ETA Sunday called for international mediation and vowed to go further to end a decades-old conflict, two weeks after Spain rejected its ceasefire for failing to renounce violence forever.ETA fighters, blamed for 829 deaths in a flagging campaign of bombings and

JERUSALEM: Top Israeli and Palestinian officials headed Sunday for the United States where they are expected to seek ways to break a deadlock over settlements threatening to sabotage peace talks.Israeli President Shimon Peres left on a four-day visit coinciding with the UN General

BOGOTA: The Colombian army killed at least 18 suspected leftist FARC guerrillas in a battle Sunday near the Ecuadoran border, Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera said."The operation is underway and the toll that I can give you so far is 18 losses among the terrorists of the FARC," he said,

UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Ban Ki-moon met with Iran`s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday, urging him to "engage constructively" with the international community on his country`s nuclear program.Ban said in a statement he also stressed to the Iranian leader, whose re-election last year

UNITED NATIONS: World leaders kick off a summit on Monday to hammer out new ways to meet ambitious targets set a decade ago to cut poverty, millions of avoidable deaths and improve equality by 2015.US President Barack Obama, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao

BHOPAL: Two trains collided in bad weather in central India on Monday in an early morning accident that left 13 dead and dozens injured, railway and police officials told AFP.The crash occurred in the Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh, about 350 kilometres (220 miles) from state capital

New Delhi:  A Red alert has been issued in Delhi after two Taiwan tourists were fired at by two unidentified men on a motorcycle outside Gate Number 3 of Jama Masjid.The two injured, Zeseweiu Ku, Chiang Kh, were getting on a tourist bus while the incident took place. They both have been

JERUSALEM: Israel on Sunday denounced as irresponsible the reported sale by Russia of P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles to Syria, saying it could threaten the strategic balance in the region.News of the sale emerged on Friday when Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told reporters in

BAGHDAD: Two near-simultaneous car bombs rocked Baghdad on Sunday killing at least 29 people and wounding 111 in the Iraqi capital`s deadliest day in a month.The twin blasts struck near the Aden junction in north Baghdad and in the residential district of Mansur in the west of the capital

BANGKOK: Thai "Red Shirts" were set to rally in Bangkok and Chiang Mai Sunday to mark four years since a coup ousted Thaksin Shinawatra and commemorating those slain in a May crackdown on their protest.Authorities do not expect violence, but will keep security tight, with army-led command

TOKYO:  Japan plans to take "countermeasures" if China starts drilling in a disputed gas field in the East China Sea amid a simmering territorial row, press reports said Sunday.Japan says aerial photographs show that China has recently transported what appears to be drilling equipment to

KABUL: Three foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan -- two in a bombing in the south, and another soldier in an insurgent attack in the country`s north, NATO said Sunday.NATO`s International Security Assistance Force said in separate statements that all three died on Saturday, but

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden`s centre-right government was expected to win re-election on Sunday, but a strong showing by the far-right might leave the ruling Alliance short of a majority and could rewrite the political map.Two opinion polls on the eve of the election showed the

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed the hope that "responsible" leaders will take control in Iran, in an interview to be aired Sunday."And I can only hope that there will be some effort inside Iran, by responsible civil and religious leaders, to take hold of the