Nairobi, Kinshasa - Calm has returned to the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission said Thursday after four days of fighting that saw Tutsi rebels come close to taking the city of Goma.

General Laurent Nkunda, leader of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), Wednesday evening announced a unilateral ceasefire to "prevent panic in Goma." The CNDP had been engaged in fighting with Congolese and UN troops.

Islamabad - Pakistan's president and prime mi

Jerusalem- Israel will hold e

Paris  - Roger Federer is keeping focus as he heads into the business end of the ATP season, with solid performances laying the groundwork for what he hopes in a return to world-class wins in 2009.

The Swiss claimed his home Swiss Indoors in Basle for the third time at the weekend before making a late confirmation of his entry into the Paris Masters.

He then leaves early next week for Shanghai to defend his title in the season-ending Masters Cup.

Harare - An outbreak of cholera, the deadly diarrhoeal disease that doctors say has claimed dozens of lives in crisis-hit Zimbabwe in recent weeks, has spread to the city's crowded townships, state media reported Thursday.

One person died in the city's Budiriro township and 20 more from across the city were being treated for the disease in hospital, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported. Some of the cases are from areas very close to the city centre.

The death brings to 121 the number to have died of the disease this year, according to the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR).