A top Iranian official reiterated yesterday Tehran wanted a guaranteed supply of atomic fuel for its research reactor, as world powers expressed disappointment over its continued nuclear defiance.

A bruising debate on healthcare awaits the Senate after Thanksgiving now that the historic legislation has cleared a key hurdle over the opposition of Republicans eager to inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama.

Hamas's armed wing yesterday said that armed groups in its Gaza Strip stronghold had finalised a deal to stop firing rockets into Israel, but said they would respond to Israeli raids.

Twenty-six people were killed and another 232 were plucked to safety after a ferry sank in heavy seas off Indonesia's Sumatra island on Sunday, an official said.

The list of political leaders and other prominent personalities who benefited from the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) has been made public.

Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is likely to use his four-day visit to Washington commencing Sunday, to firmly and emphatically reiterate and re-emphasise to the American leadership, that New Delhi does not see a role for China in South Asia, nor will it tolerate attempted third party guardianship initiatives in the region by Beijing.

Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said troops will remain in the Swat Valley until all militants are flushed out.

The walls that the rockets blew out have not been repaired, and the plaster is a dense scattershot of bullet holes. Dozens of holes, blasted by grenades, pockmark the linoleum floors.

The Sri Lankan government has failed to make adequate welfare provision for the 136,000 Tamil civilians it plans to release from internment camps, rights activists and opposition parties said Sunday.

The British mission in Iraq faced "critical failure" because former Prime Minister Tony Blair misled the nation by claiming that Britain's objective was "disarmament, not regime change" and that concealment constrained the planning process for the military action, according to secret government reports.

A top reformer has been sentenced to six years in jail after he stood trial on charges of fomenting unrest to topple the Iranian regime.

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, best known for winning the British version of television show Celebrity Big Brother, married in a lavish ceremony in western India yesterday.

Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator, had 14 lovers at the same time, the diaries of his long-term mistress reveal.

The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) would not create a hindrance in former President General Pervez Musharraf's high treason trial under the Article Six of the Constitution and would support any political party that takes the initiative in this regard, Pakistan Industries and Production Minister Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo has said.

The death toll from a coal mine blast in northeast China climbed to 87 on Sunday as rescuers hunted for 21 workers still trapped deep underground in the nation's deadliest mine disaster in two years.

Nepal's opposition Maoist party on Saturday announced a fresh, month-long round of anti-government protests, accusing the new administration of failing to address its demands.

Swine flu has killed four pilgrims in Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj, health authorities said on Saturday only a few days before the massive Muslim gathering reaches its peak.

A fire broke out in a bar in downtown Tokyo yesterday, killing four people and injuring 16 others, both customers and staff, a fire department official said.

Security forces today arrested three activists of militant outfit Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) in Kishtwar and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.