In 1966, Robert F Kennedy came to South Africa, a country that reflected the divisions, inequities and injustice of his own country, the USA.

The United States will keep its government facilities in South Africa closed for a second day on Wednesday due to undisclosed security fears.

Sudan's security apparatus has halted production of three Arabic newspapers for allegedly defying a censorship order, and on Wednesday confiscated an English-language daily for reporting the story. "That story has caused us problems," said Nhial Bol, editor of the Citizen, which planned on Wednesday to publish an article and editorial on the censorship.

Spanish, French and American tourists once filled the winding alleys of Sanaa's old quarter, drawn by Yemen's 2 500-year-old history and unique architecture. But a spate of attacks on foreigners is driving visitors away and souvenir shop owner Hussain Abdel Moghni says the only tourists who come to Yemen these days are "adventurers".

United States forces were drawn deeper into Iraq's four day-old crackdown on Shi'ite militants on Friday, launching air strikes in Basra for the first time and battling militants in Baghdad. The fighting has exposed a rift within the majority Shi'ite community and put pressure on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

A wave of attacks across Iraq on Sunday killed 51 people, while insurgents fired a barrage of mortars at Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, sending United States embassy staff scurrying into bunkers. The deadliest attack was in the city of Mosul where a suicide bomber crashed an explosives-laden truck into an Iraqi army base.

Serbia's neighbours in Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria dealt a blow to the Serb campaign to overturn Kosovo's month-old independence on Wednesday by announcing they would recognise the new republic. In a joint statement issued in Zagreb, Budapest and Sofia, they said the decision was based on "thorough consideration".

Protesters in Tibet's capital, Lhasa, burnt shops and vehicles and yelled for independence on Friday as the region was hit by its biggest protests for nearly two decades, testing China's grip months before the Olympics. Peaceful street marches by Tibetan Buddhist monks over previous days gave way to bigger scenes of violence and resentment in the remote, mountainous region.

Serb rioters enraged by Kosovo's secession stormed the United States embassy in Belgrade and set it on fire, leaving one person dead and drawing swift condemnation from Washington and the United Nations Security Council. The US State Department said the lack of protection for its mission was intolerable and demanded the Security Council respond.

United Nations goodwill ambassador and Hollywood megastar Angelina Jolie visited Iraq on a humanitarian mission on Thursday and met top officials to demand help for people displaced by the war. "There are over two million displaced people and there never seems to be a real coherent plan to help them," she said.