Venezuela has stopped publishing official crime rates, but murders, kidnappings, assaults, and robberies have skyrocketed during the past decade.

Funerals of murder victims are a daily sight in Venezuela, where hospitals treat an unending stream of assault victims. Far from containing the violence, police increasingly find themselves targeted by criminals. Every day, mourners crowd Caracas' morgue, including this sister of a slain officer.

A Turkish press report says Turkey will remove Iran from a watchlist of nations it considers as threats to its national security. The newspaper Milliyet reported Monday that Turkey also will remove Russia, Iraq and Greece as primary threats in the so-called Red Book - a national security policy document.

An African Union official said Monday that hundreds of additional troops have arrived in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, to bolster the AU force that supports the Somali government.

Russian and Iranian engineers have begun loading fuel into Iran's first nuclear power plant. The plant is located in the southern city of Bushehr and both Russian and Iranian leaders insist Iran's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes though many in the international community are suspicious.

Raging floodwaters have inundated more districts in southern Pakistan, where officials say the world has given or pledged more than $800 million to help the country cope with its natural disaster.

There is widespread and deep concern in South Africa that the ruling party and the government are seeking to introduce measures that will severely curtail the media freedoms guaranteed in the country's constitution.

Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi says the military has successfully test fired a new surface-to-surface missile.

Southern African leaders leaders have given themselves another six months to review a 2008 tribunal ruling on Zimbabwe land reform. The decision not to act came at this week’s Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Windhoek, Namibia. A SADC tribunal had ruled that nearly 80 white Zimbabwe farmers had their land unfairly taken from them due to their race.

Nuevo Leon Governor Rodrigo Medina has called on Mexican President Felipe Calderón to send additional military troops to his state.