World news: Presidential forces clash in streets amid civil war fears

Explosions and gunfire were heard throughout Abidjan - once known as the "Paris of Africa".

Ivory Coast has been operating with two presidents and two governments since a disputed November 28 election.

Alassane Ouattara was declared the winner by the country's electoral commission and was recognised by the UN, US, France and the African Union as having beaten incumbent Laurent Gbagbo.

The next day, however, the constitutional council overturned the results after invalidating half a million votes from Ouattara strongholds.

Staff under bomb attack at embassy

An errant rocket-propelled grenade struck an outer perimeter wall of the US Embassy, but no injuries were reported and the damage was minor.

Streams of gunfire and unexplained explosions were heard for 30-45 minutes in the streets outside the UN-protected Golf Hotel, where Mr Ouattara has tried to govern. Mr Gbagbo rules from the presidential palace.

No visits for Nobel prize winner

THE Chinese prison where Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo is held has suspended visits by his family and his wife remains under house arrest, a week after the award ceremony. Liu's brother Liu Xiaoguang said the Jinzhou prison notified the family of the suspension.

Leaders hail iconic King

TWO presidents and four television news anchors turned out to bid iconic US TV host Larry King farewell as he pulled the curtain down on his CNN talk show after 25 years.

King, 77, was serenaded by Tony Bennett singing The Best Is Yet to Come via videolink. Piers Morgan takes over in January.

Bodies pulled out wreckage

POLICE divers have pulled two bodies from the sunken wreckage of a boat which was packed with asylum seekers trying to reach Australia when it was smashed to pieces on rocks at a remote island, taking the death toll from the disaster to 30.

The country's home affairs minister Brendan O'Connor said the bodies of a man and a boy aged about 11 were found near the hulk of the wooden boat after seas calmed enough for divers to enter the water.

British mum faces drugs death

A BRITISH mother-of-two is facing the death penalty in Malaysia after police raided a resort she was running with her husband and allegedly uncovered an estimated 16,000 of illegal drugs.

Shivaun Orton, 41, from Wales, and her Malaysian husband Abdul Harris Fadilah, 46, were arrested on December 13.

Yemen: A group of American embassy staffers came under attack when a bomb was thrown near their vehicle outside a restaurant in Yemen's capital, officials said today. No-one was hurt in the attack on Wednesday evening.

Japan: A Japanese man was arrested after a knife attack left more than a dozen people injured near Toride train station in Ibaraki Prefecture. The attacker boarded two buses during the attack.