Al Qaeda's No. 2 urged the Turkish people in an Internet message posted on August 15 to pressure their government to sever ties with Israel and withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

Officials from Mexico's largest television network Televisa said an explosive device went off in front of their station in the northern city of Monterrey on August 15.

A pilotless US drone aircraft fired missiles into Pakistan's North Waziristan, an al Qaeda and Taliban sanctuary on the Afghan border, killing at least 12 militants on August 14.

As many as four African migrants from Ethiopia and Eritrea trying to cross into Israel from Egypt's Sinai desert were shot dead by smugglers and 10 others were wounded, according to state media.

Four people have been shot dead after an argument at a wedding anniversary party in the city of Buffalo, New York.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said on August 14 that 20 million people have been affected by the country's floods, a much higher estimate than the UN's 14 million.

A Belgian man died from a drug-resistant "superbug" originating in South Asia, a doctor said on August 13, the first reported death from the bacteria.

Disease outbreaks pose grave risks to victims of Pakistan's worst floods in decades, aid agencies said on August 13, causing fresh concern about already complicated relief efforts.  

Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi on August 13 confirmed next week's launch of his country's first nuclear power plant.

BP has agreed to pay a record $50.6 million (£32.5m) fine for failing to correct safety hazards at its Texas City plant.