Australian authorities intercepted a boat carrying more than 30 suspected asylum seekers, the latest in a string of vessels carrying refugee hopefuls to reach the country’s waters this year.

Australia’s navy detained 20 suspected asylum seekers found on a boat in the Indian Ocean, officials said today.

Graphic pictures of Japanese hunters harpooning whales and dragging their carcasses aboard a ship near Antarctica were evidence of “indiscriminate” slaughter, Australia said today.

HUNDREDS of foreign troops struggled to keep East Timor from tipping into civil war yesterday amid widening violence, including a mob attack that killed six relatives of a government minister and set his house ablaze.

At least 49 people were feared dead after a series of explosions shook New Delhi today.

The Zimbabwe government said extra security guards will be on duty to prevent any demonstrations during today’s treason verdict against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

SMOKE drifted over the skies of the Algarve beaches in southern Portugal yesterday, as helicopters provided the soundtrack to a third day of wildfires.

Sixty-four suspected mercenaries detained in Zimbabwe this week were hired to help overthrow the government in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea with the assistance of British, American, and Spanish intelligence agencies, the Zimbabwe government claimed.

ZIMBABWE yesterday accused Britain's SAS and the CIA of assisting alleged mercenaries who are under arrest and facing the death sentence in Harare.

THE Zimbabwean army was placed on full alert yesterday following the seizure of a US-registered cargo plane carrying 64 "suspected mercenaries" and military equipment from South Africa.

The Zimbabwean army was placed on full alert today following the seizure of a US registered cargo plane carrying 64 “suspected mercenaries” and military equipment.

Zimbabwean authorities have seized a US-registered cargo plane carrying 64 “suspected mercenaries” and military equipment, Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mahadi said today.

Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader drew new political battle lines today in a showdown to oust embattled President Robert Mugabe, announcing he would not be part of any power-sharing government with the ruling party.

A Singapore man who may have been exposed to the SARS virus will appear in court – on a video screen – to face charges that he broke home quarantine orders, a police spokesman said today.

The Zimbabwean government today reassured its Asian citizens that their businesses and homes would not be seized by ruling party militants.

Opposition supporters have marched in Zimbabwe in defiance of laws which make anti-government protest illegal.

Prominent Ulster Unionist Lord Kilclooney said today that responsibility for security in Northern Ireland was ‘‘slipping away’’ from Belfast to Westminster at the time of Bloody Sunday.

A Pakistani man today confessed to attacking the US cultural centre in Calcutta, as he was dying after a shoot-out with Indian police, the Indian government said.

The leader of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party today said he feared President Robert Mugabe would use the killing of a ruling party militant to crack down on the opposition.