DAR ES SALAAM, Aug 09 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - The African Union will suspend Mauritania until democracy is restored in the West African nation where soldiers overthrew the president this week, AU chair Tanzania said on Saturday.

HERAT, Afghanistan, Aug 09 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Afghan soldiers backed by international air support killed around 20 Taliban insurgents and wounded 14 more in western Farah province on Friday, the provincial police chief said on Saturday.

GORI, Georgia, Aug 09 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Georgia called for a ceasefire on Saturday after Russian bombers widened an offensive to force back Georgian troops seeking control over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Staff Correspondent

Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said he hoped their 'guest' Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin would cause no problem.

The conflict between Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia moved toward all-out war on Saturday as Russia prepared to land ground troops on Georgia’s coast and broadened its bombing campaign both within Georgia and in the disputed territory of Abkhazia, reports The NY Times.

AFP, BEIJING - An American relative of a US Olympic coach was killed and another injured in a stabbing attack in Beijing on Saturday, officials said, raising security fears as the Games got into full swing.

SINGUR, India, Thu Aug 7, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Violent protests and political opposition against land seizures for a Tata Motors factory in West Bengal threaten to delay the long-awaited launch of the Nano, hailed as the world's cheapest car.

Times Online

President George Bush has signed legislation that paves the way for the US to settle all remaining lawsuits against Libya by American terrorism victims, and paves the way for complete rapprochement between the former rogue state and the US.

After decades as a pariah nation, the last steps for Libya's complete rehabilitation can now be taken, once the country pays hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation to US victims of Libyan sponsored terrorism.

Times Online

The final frostbitten survivor still trapped on K2 after a catastrophic ice avalanche faces another night of misery on the mountain with the weather too severe for helicopters to begin a rescue mission.

The Muslim men who killed 16 police officers in western China were waging a “holy war”, the Chinese authorities claimed today, as inhabitants of the city of Kashgar prepared themselves for a security clampdown in the aftermath of the attack, reports The Times.

REUTERS, MADRID- Twenty-nine people go on trial in Spain on Thursday charged over the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people, and triggered the fall of the government and the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq.

REUTERS, YANGON- At least 20 people were killed when the slag heap from a jade mine in military-ruled Myanmar collapsed late last month after torrential rain, industry sources said on Tuesday.

An American-educated female neuroscientist has been extradited from Pakistan to the United States and is due in court in New York today to face terrorism charges, reports AFP.

REUTERS, MOSCOW: Russians paid tribute to the former Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn on Tuesday, with all the hallmarks of an official lying-in-state.

News Analysis

REUTERS, JERUSALEM: The events of the past few days in and around Gaza — mortar and grenade battles, negotiations drawing in Israel and Egypt, and the bizarre denouement in which Israel both saved and interrogated scores of Palestinian fighters — offer a glimpse of the byzantine nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

No Zuma, no country. This was the stark warning to the South African judiciary yesterday from Jacob Zuma's supporters as the ANC leader launched a court attempt to quash corruption charges that could thwart his ambition to become president, reports AP.

Mr Zuma, who defeated President Thabo Mbeki for the leadership of the ANC last year, is all but assured of becoming president when Mr Mbeki's second and final term expires in eight months.

REUTERS, LOS ANGELES- The Phoenix Mars Lander may have detected perchlorate, a potentially toxic substance used in rocket fuel, in soil samples taken from the Red Planet, NASA scientists said on Monday.

REUTERS, WASHINGTON- President George W Bush offered a mixed assessment of China's role in the world but said in an interview published on Tuesday it is "important to engage" the Chinese.

Reuters, Tokyo- Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda ruled out on Tuesday a visit to Tokyo's Yasakuni shrine, seen by many in Asia as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, on the August 15 anniversary of the country's surrender in World War Two.

Reuters, Johannesburg- Zimbabwe's ruling party and opposition are close to a power-sharing deal to end a political crisis, a South African newspaper reported on Tuesday.