The United States accused Iran on October 11 of backing a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington, escalating tensions with Tehran and stirring up a hornet's nest in the Gulf, where Saudi Arabia and Iran have long jostled for power.

Israeli and Palestinian officials say the Israeli government has reached an agreement with the Palestinian militant group Hamas to free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The Egyptian-mediated agreement says Hamas will exchange Shalit for the freedom of about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Minister of Public Security Lieut. Gen. Tran Dai Quang is joining other ministers of ASEAN countries in Indonesia to discuss ways of preventing trans-national crime.

The outlook for the world's major economies is continuing to darken according to the latest data from the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published on Monday.

Three United Nations food agencies say prices for rice, wheat and other key foods are expected to remain volatile and possibly increase.

Thai rescue workers scrambled on Monday to prevent a humanitarian disaster as the worst flooding in half a century swamped large sections of the country, shut factories and stranded thousands of people.

Oil leaking from a container ship that ran aground on a reef off the pristine east coast of New Zealand's north island has begun washing ashore.

Libyan transitional government forces said they had cornered Muammar Gaddafi loyalists in the centre of the deposed leader's hometown on Monday, where desperate civilians were still trying to flee the fierce street fighting.

African Union (AU) troops say they have driven Islamist al-Shabab militants out of their last stronghold in the north of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.

At least ten people were killed and 18 were wounded on Monday when three successive blasts exploded in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, police and hospital officials said.