UN climate talks opened in Poland yesterday with pleas for urgent action to fight global warming despite the economic slowdown, and a warning that inaction could mean water shortages for half the world by 2050.

Daily life began returning to normal yesterday to a riot-hit Nigerian city after two days of election-related violence killed more than 300 people.

The Russian military will upgrade its missiles in response to UN plans for weapons in space, a top Russian general reportedly said yesterday.

A new batch of images sent yesterday from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) show its leader, Kim Jong-il, appearing fit while touring a military unit, amid questions about his health.

Cell phone calls distract drivers far more than even the chattiest passenger, causing drivers to follow too closely and miss exits, US researchers reported yesterday.

Night terrors, which send children into sudden inconsolable screaming, are at least partially inherited, according to a study published yesterday.

The terrorists who attacked India's financial capital had no links to any government, Pakistan's president said yesterday amid claims that at least one of the gunmen belonged to a banned Pakistani militant group.

MUMBAI: As authorities finished removing bodies yesterday from the bullet- and grenade-scarred Taj Mahal hotel, a Muslim graveyard refused to bury nine gunmen who terrorized this city over three days last week.

In a sign of hope on a continent ravaged by AIDS, a South African fertility clinic has started a service allowing couples infected with the virus to have a healthy baby.

Somali pirates have agreed to release a Yemeni cargo ship without ransom after successful negotiations between the hijackers, local elders and a Yemeni official, a local official said yesterday.

The astronauts from the space shuttle Endeavour headed for a delayed reunion with their families yesterday in Houston a day after touching down safely in California following a nearly 16-day mission to repair and upgrade the international space station.

The former head of Japan's air force, fired in October for publishing an essay arguing Japan was not an aggressor in World War II (WWII), said yesterday he believed many in politics, the military and the public shared his views.

Iran to back US-Iraq pact

Suicide bomber kills 8

Aid ship to Gaza blocked

PM's ratings slide

Troops leaving Iraq