The estimate of the number of Pakistanis left homeless by massive flooding has doubled to 4 million, the United Nations said on August 19 as Washington ramped up assistance.

A state of emergency has been declared in Bolivia as forest fires spread across the country.

The European Commission has said that Greece has met the conditions to receive the second tranche of a 110 billion-euro (US$145 billion) rescue loan.

An al Qaeda leader in Yemen accused of aiding operatives in the 2002 bombing of the French-flagged oil tanker Limburg has surrendered to authorities, Yemen's embassy in the United States said on August 19.

Chinese rescuers scoured a remote valley in the nation's southwest for survivors on August 19, after a landslide decimated a village, killing at least one person and leaving 90 missing.

Foreign aid has begun flowing to the 20 million victims of floods in Pakistan, but thousands remain without food or shelter as weather forecasts signalled there may be some let-up.

Checks on a Japanese oil tanker damaged by a mystery explosion near the Strait of Hormuz oil shipping route found a soot-like substance in a large dent in its hull, the Transport Ministry in Tokyo said on August 18.

The U.S. troop strength in Iraq is 56,000, a senior Obama administration official said on Wednesday evening, correcting his earlier statement the troop level was down to the 50,000 level Washington has targeted for the end of the month.

Iran took its case against the United States to the United Nations on August 18 and strongly condemned the top U.S. military chief for saying military action remains a possibility if the country develops nuclear weapons.

The Thai army commander said his army is ready to maintain peace and order on the Thai-Cambodian border.