'It's like inviting Pol Pot to a human rights conference'

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe made a surprise appearance on Monday at a world food summit in Rome, drawing fierce criticism from the British government. In his first official trip abroad since elections in March, Mugabe attended the summit organised by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Experts see big holes in cluster bomb ban

An agreement banning cluster bombs has cheered human rights campaigners, but powerful military states are refusing to join it and experts say the treaty is riddled with holes and could prove unworkable. The agreement commits 111 countries to banning the use of cluster munitions.

Shackled Simon Mann names names

Wearing handcuffs and leg-irons in an African prison, the former SAS soldier who tried to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea in a coup d'état on Tuesday claimed the main instigator of the plot was the London-based Lebanese millionaire Ely Calil.

Talks fail: Army is Kenya's best hope

Britain on Tuesday said that the Kenyan army is now "by far the best option" to stop a sectarian bloodbath as peace talks in Nairobi between the government and opposition were suspended. Former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan suspended talks between the government and the opposition negotiating teams after it became clear they were going nowhere.

CBS staff kidnapped in Iraq

Two employees of United States broadcaster CBS News, one reportedly a British journalist, have been kidnapped in Iraq. The United Kingdom journalist was seized by gunmen in Basra with his interpreter on Sunday, according to the Iraqi news agency Aswat al-Iraq (Voice of Iraq).

Burma's junta sets timetable for polls

Burma's military junta unveiled a timetable for the country's first elections in two decades, but it was unclear on Sunday if detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi would be allowed to stand. The surprise weekend announcement of a constitutional referendum in May to set the stage for elections in 2010 appeared to catch her party off guard.

Russian envoy: 'Now we really have a crisis'

The diplomatic stand-off with Russia entered a dangerous new phase on Wednesday as British officials denounced "a pattern of intimidation" by Russia's security services against British Council staff. The Foreign Office complained of unacceptable behaviour, after Russians working at British Council offices were called in for questioning by the FSB.

Musharraf to be given ultimatum

The United States and Britain are on Monday expected to demand that Pakistan's President, Pervez Musharraf, honour pledges to hold elections in the next two months and step down as the army chief, or face a cut in Western support. The diplomatic showdown will come in the form of a meeting in Islamabad between the Pakistani leader and a group of ambassadors.

Iraq's hired hands under fire

They needed to be hired fast after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. With too few United States soldiers on the ground, demand for private security guards was at a level not seen since the mercenary heyday of Congo in the 1960s. But the Iraq boom for private security firms is coming to an end, even without the Blackwater shooting row.

Thai crash investigators find flight recorders

Investigators on Monday recovered the two flight recorders, or "black boxes", from Thailand's worst plane crash in a decade, which killed at least 90 people, mostly foreign tourists. Survivors said the plane was preparing to land in heavy rain when it suddenly lifted off again, then crashed down on the runway.

China denies cyber-spying charges

From the German chancellery to the Pentagon, government computer networks have been targeted by cyber spies that media reports say were directed by China's military. The reported Pentagon attack was the "most flagrant and brazen to date", said Alex Neill, an expert on the Chinese military at London's Royal United Services Institute.

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