Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday amid "intense" talks with both Palestinian and Israeli officials ahead of Sunday's expiry of an Israeli freeze on new settlement construction.

Iran's president said he is ready for talks on his country's nuclear program with the P5 plus one -- the world powers spearheading the negotiations.

The threat level to Britain from Irish-related terrorism has been raised from moderate to substantial.

About two million people in northern Nigeria have been displaced after authorities opened the floodgates on two dams, an official says.

The death toll from a typhoon in southern China now stands at 70, and several dozen people remain missing, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, citing relief officials.

The detained captain of a Chinese trawler was released by Japan and returned to his home country, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported, citing the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The US and other Western delegations at the 65th UN General Assembly have walked out in protest at the speech of the Iranian president on September 23.

Hamas said on September 24 it had arrested "many" Palestinians in Gaza on suspicion of collaborating with Israel to kill senior members of the enclave's Islamist rulers and bomb training sites and government offices.

President Barack Obama has urged Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to speed up the revaluation of his nation's currency, telling him in a two-hour meeting on September 23 that the slow pace of reforms was affecting both the global and US economies.

President Barack Obama on September 22 announced the creation of a comprehensive administration initiative devoted to spurring development efforts around the globe.