KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — A car bomb exploded next to an Afghan government office during a provincial council meeting Wednesday, killing at least three people and wounding 28, officials said.
The attack in the southern city of Kandahar ripped through the council office, flattened two nearby homes and damaged the nearby offices of the country’s intelligence [...]

Islamic fighters have seized control of a strategic Somali port city just outside the capital, Mogadishu, where United Nations relief supplies enter the famine-stricken country.

Islamist fighters from Al-Shabaab group in Somalia display their flag.

Al-Shabaab fighters chanted “Allahu Akbar” — or “God is great” — on Wednesday as the armed men entered Merka, [...]

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — Iran announced Wednesday that it successfully test-fired a “Sajil” missile — a new generation of surface-to-surface missiles — according to state-run media reports.
Iran did not say when the missile was test-fired, but said it happened in the presence of Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Mostafa Mohammad Najjar.
“The two-stage missile uses combined solid [...]

HARRODS’ owner Mohamed al Fayed has been questioned by police on Wednesday over a newspaper report which alleged he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl at his London department store.
Mr al Fayed went to a police station in London to deny the report during a 30-minute meeting.
“We confirm that Mohamed al Fayed today voluntarily attended an [...]

A GLOBAL donors meeting today pledged $US4.55 billion ($6.7 billion) in aid to conflict-stricken Georgia, much higher than anticipated, the EU commission announced.
The sum included €2.8 billion ($5.41 billion) of public funding to meet Georgia’s urgent post-conflict “and priority investment needs”.
The amount raised at the one-day conference “is more than we had thought and therefore [...]