ADDIS ABABA — The African Union is seeking to bolster the strength of the African-led force in Mali, or AFISMA, and has given member states one week to commit troops to the mission, officials said on Friday. “We definitely know, based on the first assumptions . . . that the force size will have to

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama hosted President Hamid Karzai at the White House on Friday at a meeting designed to thrash out the scope, and ultimately the size, of the US commitment to Afghanistan after 2014. The leaders, whose relationship is strained by a gruelling war that has

BEIJING — A landslide in southwestern China last Friday killed at least 22 people, including seven from one family, with some two dozen others trapped, local authorities said.The landslide buried 16 homes in the village of Gaopo in the southern province of Yunnan, the provincial government said on its website.

A British man went on trial on Thursday accused of screaming abuse at Usain Bolt and hurling a beer bottle onto the track as the Olympic men’s 100 metres final was starting, a climactic moment of the London Games in August.

The UN Security Council voiced alarm on Friday at an advance by rebels in Central African Republic that has brought them within striking distance of the mineral-rich nation’s capital, and renewed its call for a negotiated solu­tion to the crisis.

The Delhi police yesterday refuted allegations levelled by the friend of the December 16 gang-rape victim that policemen argued over jurisdic­tional area, losing precious time that might have proven crucial in saving her.

At least 11 people were killed and 40 wounded when a car bomb exploded at a crowded petrol station in the Syr­ian capital Damascus on Thursday, opposi­tion activists said.

The Central African Republic and rebels have agreed to hold unconditional talks, an official from the regional bloc ECCAS said late Friday. But heavy fighting was still reported in the city of Bambari, which the rebels seized last Sunday.

CAIRO — Egyptian former President Hosni Mubarak has been transferred Thursday evening from Tora Prison Hospital to nearby Maadi Military Hospital in Cairo for treatment due to his deteriorating health condition, official news agency MENA quoted a security source as saying.

JOHANNESBURG — Anti-apatheid hero Nelson Mandela was doing well at home after being discharged from hospital, the South African presidency said.
“I assume everything is going okay,” said presidency spokesperson Mac Maharaj.

One of the top officials in charge of overseeing Egypt's vote on a contentious draft constitution has resigned citing health problems, while critics believe the resignation was prompted by widespread