By Clarens Renois (AFP)

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Haiti announced Wednesday that elections will be held November 28, opening the way for rebuilding political institutions in the country devastated by a deadly earthquake in January.

The vote, originally scheduled for February 28 and March 3, will choose a successor to President Rene Preval, along with all 99 members of the Chamber of Deputies and one third of the members of the Senate.

The elections are being held as the country -- faced with political turmoil for decades -- tries to recover from the

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Le président haïtien René Préval a annoncé mercredi la tenue des élections présidentielle et législatives le 28 novembre, les premiers scrutins dans le pays depuis le séisme dévastateur du 12 janvier, réclamés avec vigueur par l'opposition.

"Je ne peux plus m'arrêter en route, les élections doivent se tenir le 28 novembre", a déclaré mercredi le président Préval lors d'une conférence de presse consacrée exclusivement aux élections.

Trois semaines après le séisme qui a tué plus de 250.000 personnes et fait près de 1,5 million de sinistrés,

MOGADISHU - At least eight Somalis, including civilians, were killed Tuesday when Islamist insurgents attacked a police building and army barracks in northern Mogadishu, officials and witnesses said.

The Western-backed government troops and the hardline rebels have for months been locked in a military see-saw which sees some strategic locations in the Somali capital change hands with every offensive and counter-offensive.

"We took control of several key positions including the main central police station," Sheikh Ali Mohamed

KAMPALA - Uganda's military was put on heightened alert following an attack inside the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by a long-dormant rebel group, the army spokesman told AFP Tuesday.

"We have confirmed the ADF are attacking a Congolese town called Mutwanga and have killed 16 civilians," Lieutenant Colonel Felix Kulayigye said.

Mutwanga is close to the Uganda border.

"We have reason to believe they can cause insecurity (in Uganda) and we are monitoring their movements very closely."

The Allied Democratic Forces, a group

BEIJING - More than 100 people have been buried or trapped in a landslide triggered by heavy rain in southwest China on Monday, a local official and state media said.

Rescue work was under way in the affected village of Dazhai in Guizhou province, the Xinhua news agency reported.

An official surnamed Wang in the Guanling county emergencies office told AFP that 107 people were trapped or buried, matching a revised figure given by Xinhua.

"It's raining hard, making the rescue work difficult," she said, adding that the number of casualties was not yet known.

BEIRUT - Thousands of Palestinian refugees gathered on Sunday outside UN headquarters in Beirut to demand basic civil rights in Lebanon, such as a choice of jobs and ownership of property.

The protest organised by Palestinian and Lebanese non-government organisations was initially due to be held outside the parliament building in downtown Beirut.

"The police outside parliament usually ban any protest there," said Maher Shehadeh, one of the Palestinian organisers. So the protesters gathered instead several hundred metres (yards) away outside the UN headquarters.

By Ali Musa Abdi (AFP)

HARGEISA, Somalia - The self-proclaimed state of Somaliland closed its borders Saturday as voters chose their president amid fears Islamists from neighbouring Somalia could try to disrupt the polls.

The northern territory has been more stable than Somalia since it broke away in 1991 but a message warning voters to stay home by the leader of the Al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab movement drew draconian security measures.

"All our country's forces are locking the borders. Movements and transport inside Somaliland are also forbidden

CONAKRY - At least one person was killed in a clash between supporters of two political parties ahead of Guinea's presidential elections Sunday, the director of Conakry's main hospital said Friday.

"One body was brought to the hospital from Coyah," said Hadja Fatou Sikhe Camara, chief of the hospital situated in the suburb of Donka.

Violence broke out Thursday in Coyah, 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of the capital, with supporters of candidates Sidya Toure and Cellou Dalein Diallo, hurling rocks at each other.

The two former prime ministers are frontrunners

BEIJING - Chinese rescue teams scrambled to shore up flood defences Friday as a swollen river threatened a major city, after heavy rains across the nation's south and centre left more than 200 people dead.

Workers and soldiers were patching up dykes in Hunan province after water in the Xiang river, which passes through Changsha city, where over six million people live, surged to its highest level in a decade.

The surge rose 2.5 metres (over eight feet) above the river's danger marks, the third highest reading since 1953