China goes into Darfur
Beijing will send a corps of engineers to join the planned 26,000-strong United Nations-African Union force in Darfur. China has been accused of abetting atrocities in the region thanks to its large investments in Sudan and tacit support of Khartoum.
War in Ogaden? Keep up to date with the latest developments and sharpest perspectives in a world of strife and struggle.
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Separatist rebels in Ethiopia claim that Ethiopian helicopter gunships have strafed nomads at watering holes in the remote ethnic Somali region of Ogaden.
Eritrea has accused Ethiopia of "declaring war" on its tiny neighbour by failing to implement a five-year old border ruling. Fighting between the two countries has killed up to 70,000 people in recent years.
Easing of emergency?
Pakistan has released at least three thousand people detained since the establishment of emergency rule in an apparent easing of restrictions.
At the same time, police have detained 150 journalists in Karachi.
Anne Patterson, the US ambassador to Pakistan, has met with representatives of leading Islamist parties in the country, to discuss the path ahead to elections in January.
Thousands of villagers have fled ongoing fighting in Pakistan's rugged northwest, as government forces continue to battle Islamist and local insurgents.
Photographer faces terrorism charges
The US military is set to press charges against Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein for allegedly abetted insurgents in Iraq. US officials have called him a "terrorist media operative".
Somali homeless
Thanks to ongoing insurgency and abiding instability in Somalia, over one million citizens are thought to be homeless.
Train attack in Bihar
Maoist rebels in the lawless eastern central state of Bihar have blown up large sections of railway track, seriously disrupting the regional train network.
Ghost town in Niger
As a result of the ongoing Tuareg insurrection in northern Niger, the entire population of the remote town of Iferouane is thought to have fled.
Extremism targets women in Basra
In the south of Iraq, Shia radicals are targeting women who don't abide by strict interpretations of moral and sartorial propriety. At least ten women are killed per month in the city.
Generals on a mission
Top US commanders from Iraq, including General David Petraeus, travelled to Ankara to meet with their Turkish counterparts to discuss how to combat Kurdish guerrillas who hop across the Turkish-Iraqi border with impunity. The prospect of a major Turkish intervention in the north of Iraq has dimmed since fighting flared last month.
Carnage in Thailand
Suspected Islamist separatists killed four officials, all Buddhists, in the restive south of the country in customary drive-by motorcycle attacks.
