The Somali government's chief negotiator said on Thursday that the Somali peace talks in Khartoum failed due to unacceptable conditions put forward by the Islamic Courts.

A Syrian Foreign Ministry source on Thursday rejected a U.S. accusation that Damascus is trying to topple the Lebanese government with Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, the official SANA news agency reported.

Sudanese Vice President Ali Othman Mohammed Taha is scheduled to pay an official visit to Syria next Wednesday at the invitation from Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Ottri, the official SANA news agency reported on Thursday.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was taken to intensive care unit Friday after his condition deteriorated.

Zimbabwean President Robert Gabriel Mugabe arrived in Beijing on Friday for the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

Palestinian medics said on Friday that 23 people, including militants, women and children, were killed as the Israeli army ground military operation called "Cloud of Autumn " went on in northern Gaza Strip.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council Chairman Shoichi Nakagawa aroused criticism from party members since he repeated the call for a debate over the necessity of a nuclear buildup for Japan on Wednesday.

A vehicle of a Japanese nongovernmental organization was fired by shots in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, Kyodo News reported Thursday.

Two senior U.S. officials will arrive in Japan on Sunday to meet with top Japanese officials over the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Kyodo News reported on Thursday.

A group of alleged terrorists arrested in London in August this year planned to blow up airliners over U.S. cities to maximize casualties, rather than over the Atlantic Ocean, as many intelligence officials originally thought, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.