DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Bangladeshi victims of Cyclone Sidr were receiving aid but the BBC reported huge logistical challenges hampered aid agencies to reach many people.Sidr, one of the most devastating storms spawned in the Bay of Bengal hit the country last week, killing more than 3,000 people, rendering hundreds of thousands homeless, destroying much of the country's crops and downing communication lines.Despite a massive international relief effort, the BBC report said the survivors' needs are ... [full story]

BAGHDAD -- A bomb attack Friday at Baghdad's Ghazal Market has killed at least 10 people and injured 54 others.Iraqi police said all vehicles were being denied access to the area after an explosive device was detonated, KUNA, the Kuwait News Agency, reported Friday.The market, which is typically crowded on Fridays, was cleared by police to protect civilians in case there was a second explosion. Copyright © 2007, by United Press International. All Rights Reserved. [full story]

BAGHDAD -- Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said he doesn't believe now is the right time to pull U.S. troops from his country.Hashemi, in an interview with Egypt's weekly magazine Al-Ahram Al-Arabi scheduled for release Saturday, said he is in favor of removing the U.S. forces from Iraq but the timing of such a decision is crucial, KUNA, the Kuwait News Agency, reported Friday."The exit of foreign troops is a national demand that nobody would ... [full story]

CAIRO -- Arab League foreign ministers met Friday in Cairo to decide whether to attend the upcoming Israeli-Palestinian peace conference in the United States.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was to speak to the ministers at the summit to update them on the status of his preliminary talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ahead of next week's conference in Annapolis, Md., the BBC reported Friday.The BBC said the failure of Israel and the Palestinians to agree ... [full story]

SANAA, Yemen -- A boat carrying Somali refugees and other migrants capsized en route to Yemen, killing more than 60 people.A security official in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, said 25 survivors of the maritime accident Wednesday reached the country's southern shores and were taken to a refugee camp in Lahij, Press TV reported Friday.Yemeni soldiers and local residents buried many of boat crash's victims in mass graves Thursday, witnesses said.Some survivors said there are six ... [full story]

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Time is running out for rival factions in Lebanon to agree on a replacement for President Emile Lahoud whose term of office expires at midnight Friday.Despite weeks of French-led mediation, the country's Sunni and Shiite communities are in disagreement and Christians remain divided into two camps, The Washington Post reported.Lebanon's political system mandates the country have a Sunni prime minister, a Shiite parliamentary speaker and a Christian president.The stalemate in parliament over ... [full story]

LUCKNOW, India -- Blasts Friday rocked three cities in India's northern Uttar Pradesh, killing at least 10 people.The near-simultaneous explosions were reported in Uttar Pradesh's capital of Lucknow and nearby towns of Faizabad and Varanasi, one of the holiest cities for Hindus because the Ganges River flows through the city.Various reports said the blasts occurred within minutes of one another near local courts.The Press Trust of India reported at least 10 people were killed in ... [full story]

BEIJING -- China is forecast to have moderate-to-tolerable inflation with the Consumer Price Index for the year in the 4.5-to-4.6 percent range.But Xie Fuzhan, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, said the monthly consumer prices index rate, which hit 6.5 percent in August, would likely stay in the 6 percent range for several more months or far higher than the government's target of 3 percent, Xinhua reported.Xie blamed the hike in the CPI largely ... [full story]

BEIJING -- Eight people were missing following the collision Friday of a ferry carrying 34 people and a cargo ship in China's Zhujiang River, Xinhua reported.The report said the other 26 people were rescued.The incident occurred Friday morning near Guangdong Province in the southern part of the country. The report said the ferry bumped into the cargo ship loaded with sand near the Hedong Bridge in Guangzhou.The ferry sunk but the cargo ship wasn't severely ... [full story]

LONDON -- A Chilean navy captain said more than 150 people had fled a cruise liner in British-claimed Antarctic waters after the ship hit an iceberg.The passenger ship Explorer began sinking Thursday evening after it hit ice near the South Shetland Islands, a British-claimed sector of Antarctica south of Argentina, CNN reported Friday.Capt. Carlos Munita of the Chilean navy said a Norwegian rescue ship had arrived at the scene of the crash to assist in ... [full story]