Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday called pon the US Congress to continue helping the two countries boost their relations.

Bombers killed at least 45 Shi'ite pilgrims in Iraq on Wednesday and also struck police for a third day in a row, in a wave of violence posing a challenge to Iraqi security forces as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw.

Tunisia observes three days of national mourning from Friday for the dozens of people killed during protests before and after the ouster of former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, state television said.

At least nine people were killed and over 100 injured in a tragic road accident at Bangladesh's Sadullapur sub-district of Gaibandha district, 268 km northwest of capital Dhaka, on the morning of January 20, an official said.

Major powers believe sanctions and setbacks to Iran’ s nuclear program may have strengthened their hand before talks with a still-defiant Tehran, but chances of real progress at this week's meeting in Istanbul look slim.

China and the United States have agreed to further boost their bilateral relationship toward a cooperative partnership for the benefit of the whole world, President Hu Jintao said Wednesday.

A week after storms devastated part of Rio de Janeiro state, southeastern Brazil, the death count reached 742, local authorities said Wednesday.

Republicans in the US House of Representatives have passed a bill to repeal President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul, in a symbolic move demonstrating their gains in Congress.

Swiss police have re-arrested a former banker on fresh charges of breaching bank secrecy laws by passing data to whistleblowers' website WikiLeaks.

Residents of rural communities in southeastern Australia were sent emergency evacuation orders before dawn on Wednesday, urged to leave their homes with three days of supplies just before floodwaters breached levees and swamped the town.