World - Reuters

UGLOVKA, Russia (Reuters) - A bomb caused a Russian train crash that killed dozens of people and injured 100 more, officials said on Saturday, stoking fears of an upsurge in attacks in Russia's heartland.

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it had taken control of a strategic mountain on the Saudi side of the border with Yemen, clearing the area of Yemeni Shi'ite rebels.

COLOMBO (Reuters) - The Sri Lankan general who oversaw the end of 25 years of war said on Sunday he will run for president, pitting himself against the man who also takes credit for the victory against Tamil Tiger rebels.

MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - A former guerrilla fighter who was jailed for 14 years is poised on Sunday to become Uruguay's next president in a runoff vote seen as a referendum on the economic success of the country's ruling leftist coalition.

PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - Britain will host talks on Afghanistan on January 28, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday, just days before U.S. President Barack Obama spells out his expansion of the war effort next week.

MALABO (Reuters) - Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema is set to secure a new seven-year mandate to rule the oil-producing central African nation on Sunday in a poll widely dismissed by critics as lacking credibility.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden pressed Iraq's leaders in a series of telephone calls on Saturday to break a deadlock that has stalled preparations for an election seen as critical for U.S. troops to withdraw, officials said.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Several hundred Israelis protested in Jerusalem on Saturday against a campaign by ultra-Orthodox Jews to shutter all businesses in the city on the sabbath.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi emergency services said on Sunday the death toll from floods that tore through the port city of Jeddah this week had risen to 103, with another 1,400 rescued, the state news agency reported on Sunday.

AUBERVILLIERS, France (Reuters) - Battered by a series of political setbacks, French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday launched his campaign for next year's regional elections and called for unity in his center-right UMP party.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A Zimbabwean-registered cargo plane en route to Kyrgyzstan crashed on take-off in Shanghai on Saturday, killing three U.S. crew on board and triggering a fire, state media and a U.S. spokesman said.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - At least 73 people were killed and others missing after a logging boat sank in a lake in western Democratic Republic of Congo, a Red Cross official said on Saturday.

DHAKA (Reuters) - Rescuers have retrieved 32 bodies, including at least 12 children, and are searching for scores of people missing after an overcrowded ferry sank in a river along the Bangladesh coast, police and witnesses said on Saturday.

LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia Saturday denied reports that it had failed to help Rwandan authorities find and arrest 1994 genocide suspects believed to be living in Zambia.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Anti-capitalism protesters smashed the windows of banks, shops and cafes in central Geneva and set cars on fire during a demonstration Saturday against the World Trade Organization.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli cabinet minister said on Friday he was optimistic about prospects for a prisoner swap with Palestinians for captured soldier Gilad Shalit, suggesting that talks were still alive to achieve a deal.

WINDHOEK (Reuters) - Namibians voted for the second day on Saturday in presidential and parliamentary elections that looked set to keep the ruling party SWAPO in power and hand President Hifikepunye Pohamba five more years at the helm.

PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - A major international conference on Afghanistan, to be held in London in January, will aim to set the conditions for a gradual transfer of security responsibilities to Afghan control, Britain said on Saturday.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Rebels suspected of links to al Qaeda seized a Somali town near the Kenyan border on Saturday, sending civilians fleeing toward the neighboring country.