A plane carrying 112 people crashed at the airport of Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) on July 8.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has backed the latest 3bn-euro (US$4.2bn) installment of a rescue package for Greece.

Delegates from 18 regional countries and territories gathered in Hanoi on July 7, discussing the agenda for the seventh Meeting of Chiefs of Asian Coast Guards.

East Africa is in the midst of its worst drought in more than 60 years, with as many as 10 million people at risk.

Thailand's prime minister-to-be has insisted that she will make her own decisions as the country's leader, and not act as the ‘puppet’ of her exiled brother, ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thousands converged onto Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday ahead of nationwide mass rallies planned to push the ruling military council to speed up the pace of reform, an AFP correspondent said.

Oil prices hovered below $99 a barrel in Asia on Friday ahead of key jobs data from June that could shed light on the strength of the US economy.

Japan's plan to hold further safety tests on its nuclear plants has drawn widespread criticism, and heaped more pressure on Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

At least 29 people were killed in different firing incidents in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi on July 7, taking death toll of the political and ethnic violence in the city to 65 in the last three days, reported local media.

Eight children and three women died in eastern Afghanistan when NATO-led forces bombarded houses, a provincial official said on July 7.