Iran on Monday said it did not see possibility of an Israeli attack on its nuclear facility, the country's English language international news channel Press TV said.

US president-elect Barack Obama reiterated on Monday that all American combat troops would be withdrawn from Iraq in 16 months, even while residual forces could remain longer.

On Monday, at the inauguration of the annual UN summit on climate change, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk called for a new global solidarity to combat the menace.

Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed said in an interview published on Monday that a Saudi oil tanker seized by Somali pirates will be freed soon without a ransom.

A series of bombs struck US and Iraqi security forces in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul on Monday, killing at least 32 people and wounding dozens more, Iraqi officials said.

Britain will soon sign a comprehensive pact with Iran similar to the pullout and framework agreements signed between Baghdad and Washington, official al-Sabah newspaper reported on Monday.

In the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistan Army chief has informed the country's leadership that if tensions with India mount further, the military has to move troops from its restive tribal areas to the eastern borders, ending the war against local militants.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has asked the United Nations to mobilise resources to tackle global problems, including high food prices and rampant piracy along the coast of Somalia.

Chinese health authorities and the UN AIDS agency pledged to fight discrimination against people with the disease in China with the unveiling today of a massive red ribbon, the symbol of AIDS awareness, at the Olympic Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing.

In a sign of hope on a continent ravaged by AIDS, a South African fertility clinic has started a service allowing couples infected with the virus to have a healthy baby.

Muslims from the Middle East to Britain and Austria condemned the Mumbai shooting rampage by suspected Islamic militants as senseless terrorism, but also found themselves on the defensive once again about bloodshed linked to their religion.

Israel's navy ordered a Libyan ship heading to Gaza with 3,000 tons of humanitarian aid to turn around on Monday, ending the most high-profile effort yet to break a blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory.

Russia is developing missiles designed to avoid being hit by space-based missile defence systems that could be deployed by the United States, a top Russian general was quoted as saying on Monday.

Representatives from almost every country on the planet are set to start 12 days of tough talks in Poland on Monday, aimed at getting the ball rolling for a new global climate change pact.

At least ten people were killed and many injured on Monday in a suicide attack targeting a check post in Pakistan's troubled northwestern Swat valley, where security forces are battling local Taliban militants.

An anthrax outbreak has killed three people and threatens to wipe out livestock in northern Zimbabwe, compounding the nation's struggle against cholera which has killed hundreds, a charity said on Monday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced he was seeking a constitutional amendment to allow himself to seek re-election again, saying he hoped to lead the OPEC nation until 2021.

North Korea on Monday began imposing restrictions on crossings at its border with South Korea in protest at what it terms Seoul's hostile policy, military officials said.

The Nigerian army took over the stricken city of Jos on Sunday to enforce calm after two days of Muslim-Christian clashes that left hundreds dead.

Triggering fears of confrontation with the police, hundreds of anti-government protesters in Thailand on Monday reinforced the siege of Bangkok's two airports, which have struggled to cope with more than 100,000 stranded travelers, including Indians.

International pressure mounted on Sunday for Europe to send an emergency security force to halt strife in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as thousands more fled fighting between rebels and government forces.

President-elect Barack Obama announced on Monday that Robert Gates would remain as defense secretary, making President Bush's Pentagon chief his own as he seeks to wind down the US role in Iraq. Obama picked former campaign rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state.

Pirates guarding an arms-laden Ukrainian ship said on Sunday that it would be released within days, but the fate of a Saudi oil carrier was unclear hours from a $25-million ransom demand's expiry.

The global oil market is oversupplied by two million barrels per day (bpd), Iran's oil minister said Tehran on Sunday.

Iran on Sunday proposed developing nuclear power plants jointly with neighbouring Arab states in the Gulf, amid international pressure on Tehran to halt its sensitive atomic work.