Afghanistan will hold a deciding round of its fraud-mired election on 7 November, pitching Hamid Karzai against his main rival.

The Republic of Congo signs an agreement to lease 200,000 hectares of land to South African farmers.

French prosecutors demand an 18-month suspended sentence for former PM Dominique de Villepin in his smear trial, but no jail time.

West Africa trade group Ecowas suspends Niger after President Mamadou Tandja held a disputed election.

One-third of Iran's lawmakers demand that legal action be taken against opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.

A German doctor is on trial accused of killing 13 cancer patients in her care by giving them overdoses of pain-killing drugs.

The US Supreme Court is to consider whether Chinese Muslim Uighurs held at Guantanamo can be released into the US.

Fierce fighting continues in South Waziristan as Pakistani troops try to gain control of the key Taliban-held town of Kotkai.

Anglicans can join the Roman Catholic Church while maintaining a distinct religious identity, under changes announced by the Pope.

Suicide bombers kill at least four people at a Pakistani university, as troops press on with their offensive against militants.

A court in Kazakhstan rejects an appeal by a prominent human rights activist who was jailed in September for manslaughter.

Armed Maoist rebels in the Indian state of West Bengal attack a bank and a police station simultaneously in the town of Sankrail, police say.

UN human rights investigator Richard Goldstone dismisses Israeli claims his Gaza war report could harm the peace process.

President Hamid Karzai has agreed to hold a second round of presidential elections. Is this the right move?

US troops remain on the streets of oil-rich Kirkuk

Nicaragua's Supreme Court lifts a ban on re-election, clearing the way for President Daniel Ortega to run in 2011.

Revolutionary Guards members killed in Sunday's suicide bombing in Iran are buried after a funeral attended by thousands.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso prepares for a grilling by MEPs in his first regular Strasbourg Q&A.

Notts County director of football Sven-Goran Eriksson rules himself out of the running to become the new Sweden coach, the Swedish FA has announced.

Director Roman Polanski loses an appeal to be released on bail from jail in Switzerland ahead of his possible extradition to the US.