Baghdad- An explosion in the southern Iraqi city of Basra destroyed a house and left three people dead, the US military and witnesses said Monday, while a senior Iraqi security official survived a

Hanoi - Four Hanoi police officers were suspended from duty just hours after a local news website posted a video clip showing them taking bribes from motorists who had violated traffic laws, a poli

Washington, Sana'a, Yemen - An al-Qaeda wing in Yemen has claimed responsibility for the mortar attack against a complex housing US citizens and other Westerners in the capital Sana'a, a Yemeni official said on Monday.

"Security authorities obtained a statement issued by al-Qaeda in Yemen claiming responsibility for the attack on the residential complex," the official, who asked anonymity, told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

The official would not say how the statement was delivered.

Sana'a, Yemen/Paris - The French government has deployed a unit of its elite GIGN anti-terrorism and hostage rescue force to Djibouti to prepare an assault if negotiations with Somali pirates holding the crew of a luxury yacht bring no results, French media reported Monday.

Late Sunday, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a radio interview that France had made contact with the pirates holding 22 French nationals and 10 Ukrainians off the coast of Somalia.