The US is open to talks with North Korea – but only if it complies with UN Security Council resolutions, senior officials have said.

The US is to protest to the Turkish prime minister for comments he made calling Zionism a crime against humanity.

The UN Security Council condemned North Korea’s successful rocket launch today and said it will urgently consider “an appropriate response”.

The White House says reports of a massacre near Damascus are the latest evidence of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's "wanton disregard for human life."

Western powers have said that the Syrian regime is "crumbling" after the defection of its Prime Minister.

IT WAS the scenario strategists from Beijing to Washington feared.

THE death of Kim Jong Il could halt talks aimed at getting the country to give up its nuclear weapons.

The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il could put a brake on talks ultimately aimed at getting the secretive communist state to give up its nuclear weapons.

Libya has played down the resignation of Foreign Minister Musa Kusa says it is a personal decision driven by health problems, not a sign that the embattled regime is cracking at the highest levels.

Angry youths took to the streets in Ivory Coast’s main city Abidjan, burning tyres, hurling chunks of concrete and tearing down billboards after election results were reversed.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez called Barack Obama “ignorant”, saying he had a lot to learn about Latin America.

Iraq’s prime minister says his country wants some form of timetable for a withdrawal of American troops included in the deal the two countries are negotiating.

MILITARY bands and a guard of honour greeted President Michel Suleiman yesterday as he entered Lebanon’s presidential palace to begin the monumental task of uniting a wounded nation and reconciling rival political factions.

A massive wave of mud and water swept through a Mexican village, leaving up to 16 people missing and feared dead after heavy rainfalls caused a hillside to collapse into a river, officials said.

Three Islamic militants from an al-Qaida-influenced group nursing a “profound hatred of US citizens” were arrested on suspicion of plotting imminent, massive bomb attacks targeting Americans in Germany, prosecutors said today.

UN inspectors were travelling to North Korea’s key nuclear reactor today to discuss a long-delayed shutdown of the facility, as the country came under increasing international criticism for launching missile tests this week.

North Korea fired two short-range missiles into its coastal waters, a move believed to be part of regular military drills, South Korean military officials said today.

World leaders rushed to congratulate France’s president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy tonight, hoping he would help boost international efforts to address issues from climate change and Middle East peace to salvaging the EU’s beleaguered constitution.

BRITAIN will withdraw around 1,600 troops from Iraq in the “coming months”, aiming to cut its force to below 5,000 by late summer if Iraqi forces can secure the southern part of the country, Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday.

Two senior US envoys have postponed their visit to Israel and the Palestinian areas following Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s grave illness, Palestinian officials said today.

In a rare warning to Americans living or travelling in the Nordic and Baltic region, United States embassies in the area said they had received ”threat information” and warned them to be cautious.

An unofficial delegation of Americans who visited North Korea said today they had toured the country’s disputed Yongbyon nuclear facility.

THE US is playing with fire by imposing trade tariffs on Chinese clothing imports Ulster Bank financial markets economist Niall Dunne warned yesterday as China retaliated.

US Democrats pressed for deeper investigation of pre-war US intelligence efforts after top security officials admitted President George W Bush was wrong when he said Iraq had tried to buy uranium in Africa.

FACING the increasing possibility of US military action, Iraq yesterday gave the first solid indication in nearly four years that it will allow UN weapons inspectors to return and invited the chief inspector to Baghdad for talks.

Facing the increasing possibility of US military action, Iraq today gave the first solid indication in nearly four years that it will allow UN weapons inspectors to return and invited the chief inspector to Baghdad for talks.