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05/21/2012 14:08 GMT

BAGHDAD, May 21, 2012 (AFP) - Shootings and bombings killed three people and wounded nine in central Iraq on Monday, security officials said.

"Two policemen were killed and three others wounded when gunmen attacked a checkpoint in Taji," north of Baghdad, an interior ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

Gunmen broke into a house in Dujail in Salaheddin province and killed an old woman, whose son was also killed by gunmen last year, a police official said.

05/21/2012 12:58 GMT

by Serge Daniel

BAMAKO, May 21, 2012 (AFP) - A last-minute deal signed with Mali's junta on a transition government solved a political impasse, but as mediators left on Monday, a crisis in the rebel-hold north loomed large over the new leaders.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) mediators wrapped up a mission to Mali after securing their choice for transition president by offering the leader of a March 22 coup the status of former head of state.

05/21/2012 10:07 GMT

Seoul, May 21, 2012 (AFP) - Food shortages have worsened in North Korea, even in the southwestern rice belt where some residents have starved to death, a Seoul-based online newspaper said Monday.

"Because of worsening food shortages this year there were reports of people starving to death even in South and North Hwanghae provinces," a Daily NK reporter told AFP, referring to the country's agricultural heartland.

05/21/2012 11:11 GMT

by Hammoud Mounassar

SANAA, May 21, 2012 (AFP) - A Yemeni soldier packing powerful explosives under his uniform blew himself up in the middle of an army battalion in Sanaa Monday, killing 96 troops and wounding around 300, a military official and medics said.

The suicide attack was the deadliest in the country's capital since newly-elected President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi pledged to oust Al-Qaeda militants from Yemen's mostly lawless and restive southern and eastern provinces.

05/21/2012 13:27 GMT

DAMASCUS, May 21, 2012 (AFP) - Syrian forces ambushed and killed nine army deserters in a north Damascus suburb on Monday, a human rights watchdog said, as NATO ruled out military action against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

The bloodletting also appeared to spill over into neighbouring Lebanon where two people were killed overnight in street battles between pro- and anti-Syrian groups in Beirut, a security official said.

05/21/2012 00:27 GMT

BAMAKO, 21 mai 2012 (AFP) - Le chef des putschistes du 22 mars au Mali, le capitaine Amadou Sanogo, a obtenu le statut d'ex-président, avec tous les avantages dus à ce rang, et la période de transition a été fixée à douze mois, en vertu d'un accord conclu dimanche entre ex-junte, Bamako et l'Afrique de l'Ouest.

05/21/2012 00:19 GMT

BAMAKO, May 21, 2012 (AFP) - The leader of putschists who ousted Mali's president in March will retain the title of former head of state and all privileges coming with it, interim authorities and the West African ECOWAS bloc said Sunday.

"Captain Amadou Sanogo has the status of former head of state. He will have all the benefits coming with his rank," Burkina Faso's Foreign Minister Djibrill Bassole, one of the mediators in the post-coup crisis, said on state radio.

05/20/2012 10:25 GMT

KABUL, May 20, 2012 (AFP) - Flash floods triggered by torrential rains in northern Afghanistan killed at least 19 people and left thousands homeless, an official said on Sunday.

Another 56 people were missing after the flood hit on Saturday in Sayyad and Share Naw districts of Sari Pul province, the provincial governor Abdul Jabar Haqbeen told AFP.

"More than a thousand families have been affected and a thousand homes destroyed," he said, adding that rescuers were in the area, backed by Afghan and NATO air support.

05/20/2012 11:35 GMT

AMMAN, May 20, 2012 (AFP) - The United Nations said on Sunday that 480 Palestinian refugees have fled Syria to Jordan since the start of a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's regime last year.

"The UN Relief and Works Agency have registered 480 Palestinian refugees who have sought refuge in Jordan since the beginning of the crisis in Syria," UNRWA spokeswoman, Anwar Abu Sakina, told AFP.