The governor of the main Kandahar prison is arrested days after the escape of about 500 prisoners, many of them Taliban militants.

Researchers in Italy begin a search for the tomb of a woman who may have been the model for Leonardo Da Vinci's painting Mona Lisa.

More than two million Canadians have cast early votes ahead of the 2 May general election, marking a 35% rise compared with the 2008 election, officials say.

A high-profile opposition leader in Belarus, Andrei Sannikov, goes on trial charged with organising mass protests after last year's presidential election.

Orlando Bosch, a prominent Cuban anti-Castro militant, has died in the American city of Miami at the age of 84.

Smoke from a brush fire enveloped the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday - but there is no impact on launch preparations for shuttle Endeavour.

Japan's industrial output falls by record levels in March as disruptions in supply chain continue to hit production.

A blast hits a bus carrying navy officials in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, wounding several in the third such strike this week.