Protesters demanding sweeping political reforms from Bahrain’s rulers held their ground in an Egypt-style occupation of the capital’s landmark square today, calling for a third day of demonstrations.

Haitians adjusting to the sudden return of one exiled ex-president could soon have another on their hands.

North Korea today reiterated a proposal for unconditional talks with South Korea to ease tensions on the divided peninsula.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief appeared to signal a rejection of Iran’s invitation to visit its nuclear sites when she said the job should be done by the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency.

Ivory Coast state television disappeared from the airwaves outside the nation's largest city, in a blow to the incumbent president's attempts to cling to power in the bloody aftermath of an election most of the world says he lost.

North Korea backed off from its threats to retaliate against South Korea for military drills and reportedly offered concessions on its nuclear programme.

A group of American embassy staffers came under attack when a bomb was thrown near their vehicle outside a restaurant in Yemen's capital, officials said today.

US president Barack Obama said today he was praying for critically-ill diplomat Richard Holbrooke, calling him “a towering figure in American foreign policy”.

SWEDISH police have said that technical problems hindering the arrest of Julian Assange, the founder of whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, had been overcome, and a British newspaper said he was in Britain.

THE Obama administration says it is taking steps to protect or relocate dissidents and human rights activists whose lives may be placed at risk by their disclosure in leaked US diplomatic documents.

The US administration and key allies around the world were braced today for the release of a vast quantity of sensitive diplomatic files on whistleblower website WikiLeaks.

The Obama administration tonight condemned as “irresponsible” the expected release of classified diplomatic cables by the WikiLeaks website and warned it will endanger “lives and interests”.

The Obama administration has alerted Congress and foreign governments of the expected release of more sensitive documents on the WikiLeaks website.

Two wives of a businessman convicted over the Mumbai terrorist attacks in India spoke to the FBI about their husband three years before, it has emerged.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was welcomed by thousands of Lebanese supporters today in a visit that underscores the deep divisions between the Hezbollah militant group and Lebanon’s pro-western factions.

Peace envoy George Mitchell was on his way to the Middle East today in an urgent bid to salvage stalled peace talks after the US criticised Israel’s refusal to extend its partial ban on settlement building.

The US prepared today to plunge into a new round of Middle East peacemaking, bringing Israeli and Palestinian leaders together for face-to-face talks for the first time in nearly two years.

An appeal court in Thailand ruled today to extradite suspected Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout to the United States, effectively ending a nearly 25-year chase for the man dubbed The Merchant of Death.

US president Barack Obama wants to sharply limit Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the botched naval raid that is straining American and Israeli relations with allies around the world.

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai accused the United Nations and the international community of interfering in the country’s fraud-marred election and seeking to weaken his authority.

A JUNTA that seized power in a coup in the west African nation of Niger named a platoon commander as its leader, hours after soldiers announced on state TV their group was in charge of the uranium-rich country.

Ten Americans who tried to take a busload of undocumented Haitian children out of the country knew what they were doing was wrong and could be prosecuted in the US, Haiti’s prime minister said.

US arms sales to Taiwan hurt China’s national security, its foreign minister said, escalating the rhetoric in a dispute threatening to deepen rifts between the world’s biggest and third-biggest economies.

North Korea said it detained an American man for illegally entering the country from China, the second arrest of a US citizen it reported in the past few weeks.

A mudslide on the famed Inca trail to Machu Picchu killed an Argentinian tourist and a Peruvian guide, as authorities evacuated hundreds of tourists by helicopter from a flood zone where more than 1,500 others were still stranded.

Thousands of people were feared dead today after a powerful earthquake struck Haiti’s capital, leaving tens of thousands homeless and buried beneath rubble.

A powerful earthquake has struck in Haiti, toppling everything from simple shacks to the ornate National Palace in the capital.

Iran faced more world condemnation today after parliament backed the Cabinet appointment of a man wanted for the bombing of a Jewish centre in Argentina.