WASHINGTON - US president Barack Obama on Wednesday has backed assurances from Pakistan's military, saying he believed the country's nuclear arsenal of as many as 100 warheads was in safe hands.
IRAQ - A ceremony has been held in Basra to mark the official end of the six-year British military presence in Iraq. UK combat operations ended as 20 Armoured Brigade took part in a flag-lowering ceremony with a US brigade.
USA - When the Obama administration crashes and burns, with approval ratings that fall through the floor, political scientists can trace its demise to its first hundred days. While Americans are careful not to consign a presidency they desperately need to succeed to the dustbin of history, the fact is that this president has moved in precisely the opposite direction of what the people want him to do.
WASHINGTON - "That wasn't me," President Barack Obama said on his 100th day in office, disclaiming responsibility for the huge budget deficit waiting for him on Day One. It actually was him - and the other Democrats controlling Congress the previous two years - who shaped a budget so out of balance.
USA - President Barack Obama marked his 100th day in office by telling Americans that "we've begun the work of remaking America." The president said that while the U.S. still faces challenges in recovering from a recession, the country is making progress.
GENEVA - The UN's World Health Organization has raised the alert over swine flu to level five - a "strong signal that a pandemic is imminent", it says. A phase five alert means human-to-human transmission in at least two countries.
CAIRO - Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precautionary measure against the spread of swine flu even though no cases have been reported here yet, the Health Ministry said.
GENEVA - A member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has dismissed claims that more than 150 people have died from swine flu, saying it has officially recorded only seven deaths around the world.
VATICAN/JERUSALEM - Reports in the Catholic media, buttressed by information from sources in Israel who are close to a ten-year-long negotiation between Israel and the Vatican, imply that an agreement is close on the handover of a holy room on Mount Zion to the Catholic Church.
SINGAPORE - Renewed fears about the health of the global economy spooked markets on Tuesday as risks rose that Mexican swine flu may become a pandemic and a newspaper report said U.S. banks may need to raise fresh capital. The Wall Street Journal said that after "stress tests," regulators had told Citigroup and Bank of America that they needed to raise billions of dollars.
SPAIN - A genetically modified (GM) maize fortified with three vitamins has been created by European researchers. The modifications make the growing maize, or corn, produce large amounts of beta carotene and precursors of vitamin C and folic acid.
UK - Compulsory sex and relationships lessons for 11-year-old children are to include classroom discussions on gay unions and civil partnerships. Secondary pupils will learn about contraception and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), while primary school children will learn about their bodies and friendships, a review of sex education has concluded.
BRUSSELS - Europe's beekeeping industry could be wiped out in less than a decade as bees fall victim to disease, insecticides and intensive farming, international beekeeping body Apimondia said on Monday. "With this level of mortality, European beekeepers can only survive another 8 to 10 years," Gilles Ratia, president of Apimondia, told Reuters.
EUROPE - As the world grapples with the worst economic downturn in decades and the possibility of a flu pandemic, a growing body of research suggests the complexity of the modern global economy may make us more vulnerable than ever to catastrophe.
LONDON - Jacqui Smith put a brake yesterday on Labour's obsessive drive to build vast Big Brother databases. The Home Secretary axed plans to store data on all our communications, including phone calls and emails, on a government-run computer system.