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AMMAN - Syrian troops and tanks poured into Deraa on Monday, seeking to crush resistance in the city where a month-long uprising against the autocratic 11-year rule of President Bashar al-Assad first erupted.
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TRIPOLI - Libya's rebel-held city of Misrata won no respite from two months of bitter siege as Muammar Gaddafi's forces bombarded the city and battled rebel fighters, despite pulling out of the city centre.
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SANAA - Yemen's opposition has agreed to take part in a transitional government under a Gulf-negotiated peace plan for veteran leader Ali Abdullah Saleh to step aside, an opposition source told Reuters on Monday.
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Hundreds of prisoners escaped from a jail in Afghanistan's south on Monday through a tunnel dug by Taliban insurgents, officials said, a "disaster" for the Afghan government and a setback for foreign forces planning to start a gradual withdrawal within months.
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TEHRAN - Iran has been targeted by a second computer virus in a "cyber war" waged by its enemies, its commander of civil defence said on Monday.
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MANAMA - Bahrain is seeking the death penalty for a group of protesters accused of killing two policemen during anti-government demonstrations in the Gulf island kingdom, state media reported on Monday.
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PHANOM DONG RAK, Thailand - Thai and Cambodian troops clashed with guns and artillery on Monday after almost a full-day break in fighting that has killed at least 12 people in four days and sent nearly 50,000 into evacuation centres.
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NEW DELHI - Indian police arrested the former chief organiser of the Delhi Commonwealth Games on Monday as part of a crackdown on corruption, embarrassing the government as it fights major state polls.
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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to speed up a ruling on President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul, his signature domestic achievement that has provoked a fierce political and legal battle.
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BEIJING - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said on Monday he hopes to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his son and presumed heir during a visit this week that will concentrate on Pyongyang's nuclear programme and foodaid needs.
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TOKYO - Unpopular Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan faces fresh pressure to quit after his ruling party's losses in local elections on Sunday, weakening his clout as he struggles to contain a nuclear crisis and find ways to finance post-quake rebuilding.
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ISLAMABAD - The U.S. military classified Pakistan's top spy agency as a terrorist support entity in 2007 and used association with it as a justification to detain prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, according to leaked documents published on Sunday that are sure to further alienate Pakistan.
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JUBA, Sudan - At least 165 people have been killed in the past week in fighting between south Sudan's army and militia, the army said on Monday, part of a wave of violence in the territory ahead of its independence in July.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
