Somalia's increasingly powerful Islamists have expanded their territorial control by seizing a strategic coastal town, jeopardizing hopes of averting an all-out war in the Horn of African nation.

A classified briefing prepared two weeks ago by the U.S. Central Command portrays Iraq as edging toward chaos, in a chart that the military is using as a barometer of civil conflict, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Ten Somali pirates captured early this year by the United States navy off the coast of the lawless nation will serve a seven-year jail term in Kenya for piracy and hijacking.

Distinguished ties between Egypt and Russia, particularly in the economic field, will get a boost from President Hosni Mubarak's Moscow tour, an Egyptian official said on Wednesday.

Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili met with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Wednesday to mend ties between the two neighbors that have dipped to a new low since the Caucasus nation's brief detention of Russian officers in late September.

Zambian Vice-President Rupiah Banda Wednesday assured the workers of the country that the government is doing everything possible to address their plight.

The first ever countrywide NATO, Afghan joint military operation, dubbed as Operation Oqab (Eagle), would effectively fight and press rebels throughout the autumn and winter months, an officer of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Wednesday.

The Cyprus government has replied in writing to an initiative by Finland, the rotating EU presidency, on Turkey's EU accession negotiations, Foreign Minister George Lillikas said on Wednesday.

Lebanon's Maronite Bishops expressed concern on Wednesday about growing divisions among Lebanese over an international tribunal that would try suspected assassins of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and demands for formation of a national unity government, the Naharnet news website reported.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit Britain on Friday to hold talks with her British counterpart Tony Blair, a government spokesman said Wednesday.