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BERLIN: Berlin warmed up for the 20th anniversary of the Wall's fall with events throughout the city, as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for a new transatlantic push to free those still oppressed.
"Our history did not end the night the Wall came down," Clinton told current and former European and US political heavyweights on the eve of the celebrations marking the end of the Cold War and the continent's division.
"To expand freedom to more people, we cannot accept that freedom does not belong to all people. We cannot allow oppression defined and justified by religion or tribe to replace that of (communist) ideology."
SAN SALVADOR: A late-season hurricane ravaged parts of Central America on Sunday as floods and landslides killed at least 91 in El Salvador and thousands were left homeless in Nicaragua.
Hurricane Ida, which grew to a category two storm on Sunday, was now moving into the southern Gulf of Mexico.
Forecasters at the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre said Ida had strengthened packing top wind speeds of 160 kilometres per hour as it moved towards Mexico's Caribbean coast - a popular spot for tourists.
FORT HOOD, Texas: Investigators probing the massacre of 13 people at a Texas army base were on Sunday trying to piece together the motive behind the shooting believed to be the act of a lone army gunman.
As US President Barack Obama prepared to attend a memorial on Tuesday, 200-plus investigators worked round-the-clock to uncover how and why 39-year-old army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan allegedly went on the rampage at Fort Hood military base.
"All evidence at this point indicates the suspect allegedly acted alone," said army investigation spokesman, Chris Grey, appearing to strike down any theories that Hasan was part of a radical Islamist sleeper-cell.
ST ANDREWS : G20 countries committed to work towards an "ambitious outcome" at next month's vital UN climate change conference after meeting on Saturday, but fell short of agreeing a figure on climate funding.
Finance ministers from leading developed and emerging economies also said they would keep economic policy support in place in the face of "uneven" recovery, in a communique released after they met in St Andrews.
"We are not out of the woods yet and we need to maintain the measures we have taken," said Alistair Darling, finance minister of host country Britain after the meeting.
MIAMI - Mexico's government issued a hurricane watch on Saturday as a strengthening tropical storm Ida bore down on the country's Yucatan peninsula.
Ida could again become a hurricane by Sunday, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, adding that the storm threatened to increase in power and hit the United States on Wednesday.
At 1500 GMT, Ida was 410 kilometers (255 miles) southeast of Mexican beach resort of Cozumel and about 430 kilometers (270 miles) south of the western tip of Cuba, the NHC said.
TEHRAN: Proposals from world powers to supply nuclear fuel for a research reactor in Iran are still on the table, a leading MP said on Sunday a day after suggesting that Tehran could reject the deal.
"Our first option is to buy fuel of 20 per cent (enrichment)," ISNA and Mehr news agencies quoted Alaeddin Borujerdi, the head of parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, as saying.
"But if we cannot buy it we could make a limited exchange on condition that first we get fuel of 20 per cent," he added.
JIZAN, Saudi Arabia: Shiite rebels said on Sunday they shot down a Yemeni combat aircraft on the Saudi border nearly three months into a widening war between the insurgents and government forces.
Jet fighters from Saudi Arabia, which entered the fray on Tuesday after the rebels seized two of its villages and killed a border guard, stepped up bombing raids against rebel positions.
The kingdom said three of its soldiers have been killed and another four have gone missing since the fighting erupted on the rugged border, also claiming the lives of an unknown number of Yemenis.
BAGHDAD: Iraqi MPs on Sunday approved a law to govern the country's general election in early 2010, paving the way to finalise a date for a vote seen as crucial ahead of a US military exit from the country.
The law was passed after weeks of delays and following huge pressure from the United Nations, religious leaders and the United States, with intense lobbying at parliament on Sunday from American ambassador Christopher Hill.
US President Barack Obama congratulated the MPs, saying the law is an important step towards ensuring a lasting peace.
WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives late Saturday approved the broadest US healthcare overhaul in a half-century, handing President Barack Obama a major victory on his top domestic priority.
After hours of bitter debate and an appeal from Obama to "answer the call of history," lawmakers voted 220-215 for a 10-year, trillion-dollar plan to extend health coverage to some 36 million Americans who lack it now.
The chamber's Democrats erupted in loud cheers and triumphant applause the moment the bill had the 218 votes needed for passage, a happy din that grew deafening when a gavel made it official.
WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives has approved the broadest overhaul of US health care in four decades, handing President Barack Obama a hard-fought victory for his top domestic priority.
Heeding Obama's appeal to "answer the call of history," lawmakers late Saturday capped 12 hours of bitter debate with a 220-215 vote.
The bill amounts to a 10-year, trillion-dollar plan to extend health coverage to some 36 million Americans who lack it now.
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Health Minister expects foreigners to come to Singapore for H1N1 vaccine