The candidate for Macedonia's ruling conservative party takes the lead in presidential elections praised for their lack of violence.
MANILA (Channel News Asia): The Philippine government and the local Red Cross branch rowed in public on Sunday after Islamic militants failed to release one of three aid workers held hostage as they earlier promised.
(BBC) Queensland elects the first female state premier in Australia's history, as Anna Bligh wins for Labor.
(BBC) Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir is accused of 'exterminating' civilians by denying access to the giant refugee camps in Darfur.
KABUL (Channel News Asia): The NATO-led force in Afghanistan said on Saturday that a foreign soldier had been killed in action in the south of the country the day before, the same day that four Canadian troops died in attacks.
TOKYO (Channel News Asia): Japanese authorities on Saturday declared the cherry blossom season open in Tokyo, with the blooming date getting earlier due to what some experts say is the effect of global warming.
(BBC) Scientists have discovered a single gene may control how some patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder respond to their medication.
(BBC) The severed head of a 19th Century Ghanaian king is to be returned to its home country for burial, say officials.
KABUL : Nine Afghan policemen and a district chief died in a battle with Taliban fighters Friday, as troops killed 40 militants in operations to counter the mounting insurgency, authorities said.
(BBC) Two US navy vessels collide in the Strait of Hormuz, lightly injuring 15 sailors and creating an oil spill, the US navy says.
(BBC) The African Union, France and the US all condemn Andry Rajoelina's army-backed takeover in Madagascar.
(BBC) Some 30,000 people in DR Congo flee raids by Hutu militias, which were supposed to have been wiped out, the UN says.
(BBC) Pirates seize a Greek-owned cargo ship off the coast of Somalia, Greek officials say.
US President Barack Obama offers "a new beginning" in ties with Iran in an unprecedented video message to the Iranian people.
(BBC) A small army plane crashes into a building in Ecuador's capital, killing at least seven people.
(BBC) Excitement builds but can Pope end Angola's radio ban?
(BBC) Brazil's top court approves a large reservation for the sole use of Amazonian Indians, in a boost to indigenous rights.
(BBC) The Venezuelan government calls for the arrest of prominent mayor and key opposition leader, Manuel Rosales.
(BBC) The US deports to Austria a former SS man connected to the Nazi killing of some 8,000 Jews in occupied Poland.
(BBC) Neil Barofsky, who oversees how the US bailout money is being spent, launches an investigation into insurer AIG's bonuses.
(BBC) The global economy will contract for the first time in 60 years in 2009, the International Monetary Fund says.
(BBC) Pakistan's government asks the Supreme Court to review a ruling that bans ex-PM Nawaz Sharif and his brother from office.
(BBC) An Israeli college prints soldiers' damning tales of civilian killing and destruction of property during the Gaza offensive.
HANOI: A three-year-old boy in Vietnam has tested positive for potentially deadly bird flu, doctors said Thursday.
(BBC) New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in the US state.
Three million French people have joined street protests against the country's economic policies, unions claim.
(BBC) Costa Rica and El Salvador, the last two Central American nations not recognising Cuba, say they will re-establish ties with Havana.
BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Wednesday launched a new "war on drugs," echoing a controversial 2003 campaign by ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra that left more than 2,500 people dead.
The boss of US insurer AIG calls the bonuses paid to executives "distasteful" and asks for some to be repaid.
(BBC) The United Nations food agency will give food aid to more than double the number of people it is currently helping in Kenya.
(BBC) Sexual assault reports in the US military rose 8% last year, with a 25% jump in cases in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon says.
(BBC) Egypt women learn skills to fend off sexual harassers
(BBC) Why European prostitutes oppose anti-trafficking laws
The conflict in Sri Lanka is killing hundreds of children, United Nations' children's agency, Unicef, says.
Insurer AIG must pay back $165m of staff bonuses awarded after accepting public bail-out funds, the US treasury secretary says.
(BBC) Up to 1,000 Gambian villagers were taken by "witch doctors" to detention centres and made to drink potions, Amnesty says.
(BBC) Montserrat's "mountain chicken" frog is the latest victim of the lethal fungus sweeping the world.
(BBC) Madagascar's president says he is standing down, paving the way for his young rival, Andry Rajoelina, to take power.
(BBC) A peacekeeper with the joint UN-African Union force in Sudan's Darfur region is killed in a "cold-blooded" ambush.
(BBC) Russia's president unveils plans to modernise its armed forces, in response to regional instability and Nato expansion.
(BBC) Maldives facing up to challenge of global warming
(BBC) Demise of the Egyptian capital's bar and cafe culture
(BBC) At least 3% of over-12s in Washington DC are infected with HIV/Aids, says a report from the city's health department.
Pope Benedict rejects condoms as the answer in the fight against HIV/Aids on his first papal visit to Africa.
(BBC) Six years after legal prostitution came to New Zealand
Madagascar's opposition leader stakes a claim to lead a new government, hours after troops storm a presidential palace.
OUAGADOUGOU, 16 March 2009 (IRINnews.org) - It was not the first time the Burkina Faso primary school director saw one of his female students drop out to get married, but the February wedding of 11-year-old Maimouna Tamboura was “too much” for Adama Sawadogo.
(BBC) Items from Fritzl's cellar put under the noses of jurors
RAWALPINDI: A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a restaurant in Pakistan's garrison city of Rawalpindi on Monday, killing at least eight people and wounding 17 others, police said.
(BBC) US forces shot down an Iranian drone aircraft 60 miles (100km) north of Baghdad last month, the US military says.
JAKARTA - Campaigning for Indonesia's third general elections since the fall of the Suharto dictatorship got under way Monday with the global economic crisis squarely at the forefront of voters' concerns.
Israel's PM-designate signs his first coalition deal, provisionally handing the foreign ministry to a controversial right-winger.
(BBC) European peacekeepers in Chad hand over operations to a larger UN force at a ceremony in the eastern town of Abeche.
Mauricio Funes of El Salvador's former Marxist rebel FMLN wins a presidential election, ending 18 years of conservative rule.
The Maldives leader says his country will be carbon-neutral within a decade by switching to renewable energy.
(BBC) Further demonstrations are expected in Madagascar as President Marc Ravalomanana ignores opposition calls to resign.
(BBC) Oil minister from the 12 Opec countries meet to discuss cutting production rates amid falling prices.