World - AFP

UNITED NATIONS, (AFP) - The UN Security Council was to meet again Tuesday to weigh an Arab call for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict in the Gaza Strip and for protection of Palestinian civilians, diplomats said.

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - The new US Senate is set to convene in a swirl of allegations of corruption, voter fraud and dynastic nepotism that threatens to dog the early days of Barack Obama's presidency.

NARATHIWAT, Thailand (AFP) - Separatist militants shot dead five people in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, where a bloody insurgency marked its fifth anniversary at the weekend, police said Tuesday.

GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) - One of Congo's main rebel military chiefs denied that Laurent Nkunda, head of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), had been toppled by a dissident group.

COLOMBO, Jan 5, 2009 (AFP) - Sri Lankan troops battling Tamil rebels Monday captured part of the highly strategic Elephant Pass in a second major success just days after taking the guerrillas' political headquarters, the army said.

MOSCOW (AFP) - World leaders hardened their rhetoric and expressed mounting concern about the impact on civilians of the fighting in Gaza Monday, as Israel rejected diplomatic efforts to bring it to an end.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered gas giant Gazprom to start cutting supplies to Ukraine bound for European consumers in response to Kiev's alleged siphoning from pipelines.

PARIS (AFP) - Pirates seized a ship belonging to French maritime services company Bourbon off the coast of Nigeria during the weekend and are holding nine crew members hostage, the company said Monday.

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - US president-elect Barack Obama has chosen former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to head the Central Intelligence Agency, a Democratic Party official told AFP.

PANAMA CITY (AFP) - Panama seized 53 tonnes of drugs in 2008, took over 42 bank accounts, confiscated 700 cell phones and 209 vehicles connected with drug trafficking, prosecutors said in an annual report Monday.

GAZA CITY (AFP) - The heaviest fighting of Israel's war on Hamas raged in Gaza's main city early on Tuesday as the Israeli government fended off appeals to stop the death toll from mounting further.

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India on Monday handed to Pakistan what it said was evidence linking the country to the Islamic militants who attacked Mumbai in November, India's foreign minister announced.

ATHENS (AFP) - A Greek policeman was seriously injured Monday in a shooting that police say marks the return of the country's most dangerous extremist group following nearly a month of youth unrest.

PARIS (AFP) - A German convert to Islam pleaded innocent Monday when he and Al-Qaeda's 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were put on trial for plotting a bloody 2002 suicide bombing of a Tunisian synagogue.

ACCRA (AFP) - Ghana's outgoing President John Kufuor congratulated his successor, opposition leader John Atta-Mills, on Monday while calling for limits on the tenure of the country's electoral commission.

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks battled Hamas fighters in Gaza on Sunday as the death toll from the offensive to end militant rocket attacks passed 510.

PARIS (AFP) - Israel's tank and troop assault on the Gaza Strip provoked cries of alarm worldwide Sunday, but Israel won heavyweight US backing and moves for an immediate ceasefire foundered at the United Nations.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - A female suicide bomber blew herself up near a Shiite holy shrine in north Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 35 people including women, children and Iranian pilgrims, a security official said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President-elect Barack Obama, starting his new life in Washington, faced Sunday the first major embarrassment over his cabinet lineup as his choice for commerce secretary was forced to pull out.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Leading South Africa's anti-apartheid activist Helen Suzman who died on New Year's Day was on Sunday buried in a private Jewish ceremony attended by top politicians and close friends in Johannesburg.

KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka (AFP) - Sri Lanka's army said on Sunday that it is moving in on the jungle stronghold of the Tamil Tiger rebels, in a final assault aimed at ending the longest-running ethnic war in Asia.

KABUL (AFP) - A strong earthquake shook northeastern Afghanistan and Pakistan early Monday, sending people running from their homes, but there were no immediate reports of damage, witnesses and officials said.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - A teenaged suicide bomber attacked police in northwest Pakistan on Sunday as they investigated an earlier blast, killing seven people and wounding 28 others, officials said.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia on Sunday asked the European Union to provide monitoring of Ukraine's gas transit system and accused Ukraine of stealing gas bound for Europe, as Kiev levelled its own charges.

PARIS (AFP) - A French warship Sunday foiled attempts by Somalian pirates in the Gulf of Aden to seize two cargo vessels and intercepted 19 people, the French president's office said.

GAZA CITY (AFP) - The heaviest fighting of Israel's war on Hamas raged in Gaza City early on Tuesday as the Israeli government parried appeals to stop the death toll from mounting further.

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Israel ignored growing international demands for a ceasefire and took its war against Hamas into Gaza's main city on Monday as dozens more bodies were taken to the enclave's hospitals.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US president-elect Barack Obama has chosen former lawmaker and White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to head the Central Intelligence Agency, US media reported Monday.