News

A Somali teenager captured by the US during the rescue of an American sea captain from pirates has appeared in a federal court in New York. The judge briefly closed the trial to the public until he had clarified whether Abde Wale Abdul Kadhir Muse was a juvenile as his mother claimed.

Sri Lanka says 63,000 Tamil civilians have escaped from the last remaining area of territory held by Tamil Tiger rebels in the past two days. The army said it had made further inroads into the small area in the north, searching for the rebel leader. It says many civilians were fleeing by sea.

Jacob Zuma has said his party expects a "massive" turnout in South African elections to be held on Wednesday. The African National Congress (ANC) leader encouraged supporters to make this the biggest turnout in the country's history.

NATO and Russia are resuming their formal ties, fuelled by the new Obama administration seeking to reset relations with Russia. Six years of cooperation between the alliance and Moscow on the NATO-Russia Council was abruptly suspended in August 2008, when Russia invaded Georgia.