Asylum-seeker boat carrying 105 sinking off Australia
A rescue operation was under way Tuesday after an asylum-seeker boat carrying 105 people began sinking north of Australia, two weeks away from an election where boatpeople are a key policy issue.
Thousands join rare opposition rally in Azerbaijan
Thousands of Azerbaijani opposition supporters held a rare authorised rally Sunday to demand a free-and-fair presidential election scheduled for October in the tightly controlled ex-Soviet state.
19 August 2013
36 Islamists killed in attempted Egypt jailbreak
Thirty-six Islamist prisoners were killed Sunday during an attempted jailbreak, bringing to almost 800 the toll in five days of violence since Egypt moved to crush supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
19 August 2013
Philippine capital shuts down amid floods
Heavy rain in the Philippine capital of Manila forced all schools, government offices and the stock exchange to close on Monday, as waist-deep water flooded parts of the city.
Pistorius due back in court for murder of his lover
Star sprinter Oscar Pistorius returns to court in South Africa on Monday, when prosecutors will indict him for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp and confirm a trial date.
19 August 2013
Clean-up begins after Japan volcano eruption
Clean-up workers Monday started removing a layer of grey ash that spread across a city in southern Japan after a volcano erupted at the weekend, spewing a plume 5,000 metres into the air.
Taliban attacks leave 17 civilians dead in Afghanistan At least 17 civilians have been killed in multiple Taliban attacks in Afghanistan, underscoring increasing insecurity for ordinary people as foreign forces complete their withdrawal next year.
18 August 2013
40 pythons found in Canadian hotel Little more than a week after a giant python crushed two young Canadian boys to death, police have recovered 40 of the snakes from a hotel room.
Two hundred missing in Philippine ferry disaster Philippine rescuers searched Saturday for more than 200 people missing after a ferry collided with a cargo ship in thick darkness and sank almost instantly
17 August 2013
Egypt braces for 'Friday of anger' after bloody crackdown Egypt's Islamists called for a "Friday of anger" in Cairo after nearly 600 people were killed following a crackdown on their protest camps, as the UN urged "maximum restraint" from all sides.
16 August 2013
Pentagon unveils new measures against sexual assaults The Pentagon announced new measures Thursday to combat sexual assault in the military but stopped short of stripping commanders of legal authority over the criminal cases as demanded by many lawmakers.
16 August 2013
Turkey losing regional clout as Egypt crisis flares: analysts Turkey's clout in the Middle East is taking a beating with the brutal sidelining of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood derailing Ankara's hopes to lead a regional surge of Islamist political power.
16 August 2013
Major quake felt across New Zealand A powerful earthquake rattled major cities across New Zealand on Friday, terrifying residents and causing the capital Wellington to shake "like jelly", but authorities reported no major damage.
16 August 2013
Beirut car bomb kills 18 in Hezbollah stronghold A huge car bomb blast killed at least 18 people Thursday in a densely populated Beirut bastion of Lebanon's Shiite group Hezbollah, a military backer of Syria's embattled President Bashar al-Assad.
16 August 2013
Suspects arraigned in US over global penny-stock fraud Six people appeared in US federal courts on Wednesday in connection with what American officials are calling one of the biggest international penny stock frauds ever investigated.