South Africa's ability to deal with threats of global terrorism will be determined when the United Nations (UN) Counter Terrorism Directorate visits the country next month.

Cases of robberies are reported to be on the rise especially in villages where former IDPs have returned in Gulu and the surrounding districts.

The Mozambican police have arrested a man who passed himself off for the past three years as a gynaecologist, but in fact had no medical qualifications whatever.

Units of the Mozambican police and of the customs service opened fire on each other on Tuesday, in Homoine, a town in the southern province of Inhambane, reports Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".

A suspected accomplice of Aldina dos Santos, alias Diana, accused of trafficking young girls from Mozambique to South Africa for sexual exploitation, has recently been arrested in Maputo, and should appear before a court in Pretoria when Diana's trial resumes

Next time you find your strong padlock missing from the door, don't punish the maid or blame anyone for having forgotten to place it. It could be some unscrupulous gangsters who have organised themselves so well as to open any

NEW YORK (AFP) - Delta Air Lines said Wednesday its pilots had cleared merger plans with Northwest Airlines that would create the largest US carrier.

ATHENS (AFP) - Greece on Wednesday approved the terms of a deal with German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom for joint management of the Hellenic Telecom Organisation (OTE), the country's main operator, the economy ministry said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US government Wednesday listed polar bears as a threatened species owing to a drastic reduction in Arctic sea ice, but stood by its permission for oil and gas drilling in their frozen habitat.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Former Democratic White House candidate John Edwards will formally endorse party front-runner Barack Obama on Wednesday, an Obama campaign source told AFP.

After the April NATO-Russia summit in Bucharest, Russia's government promised to fight NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine in every possible way. Yet the issue at hand was not membership, but rather issuing Kyiv and Tbilisi Membership Action Plans (MAPs)

U.S. President George W. Bush has arrived in Israel to take part in celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish state. During the visit, Bush is also expected to push for progress on his goal of

Saudi Arabia has charged Iran with seeking a coup in Beirut, and Tehran is sharply rejecting the charges. The war of words, which directly follows the recent street fighting in Lebanon, highlights a growing sense in Riyadh and some other

U.S. President George W. Bush has nominated John Beyrle to be Washington's next ambassador to Russia.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to immediately convene a meeting of all state chief ministers to discuss internal security concerns in the aftermath of the terror blasts in Jaipur Tuesday.

Will Hutton: The US will recover from the credit crunch. Already there is an aggression and activism about how to respond that makes the British look limp

Andrew Rawnsley: The strong message from voters is that they are utterly alienated from a Prime Minister they regard as weak and out of ideas

Corrections from the Observer

STAKEHOLDERS in the mobile telecoms industry have established a co-operation agreement to blacklist all phones that are reported as stolen.

Thirty-year-old Simon Nakale claims that he was assaulted by employees of the Onambango Supermarket in Ohangwena Region because of party politics.