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Eyewitness reports say that Islamist insurgents in Somalia have captured the town of Jowhar, a strategically important city 90 kilometres north of the country's capital of Mogadishu. According to the witness reports the Al-Shabaab rebels took the town after two hours of fighting on Sunday. After overtaking the city, the militants released prisoners from the city jail. At least three civilians were killed by the violence. A resident told Reuters that seven people died in the fighting. The United Nations Security Council has expressed "concern

Tens of thousands of protestors rallied in the streets of Taiwan on Sunday against president Ma Ying-jeou's engagement policy with China. Protestors claim Ma's policies could possibly undermine the country's self-rule. The march was lead by the chairman of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, Tsai Ing-wen. The march comes a few days before the anniversary of the president's appointment, which is due on Wednesday. The opposition claims that Ma will weaken the sovereignty of Taiwan, if he follows through on his pledge to abandon the an

Dalia Grybauskaite, the budget commissioner for the European Union, has claimed victory in the Lithuanian presidential elections. She received 68 percent of the vote after 96 percent of the ballots were tallied. Second place was taken by the Social Democrats' Algirdas Butkevicius, who took about 12% of the vote. "I am grateful for the responsibility invested in me," Grybauskaite said following the first round of voting on Sunday. Turnout in the elections was reported at slightly more than fifty percent. A candidate must win at least half th

Most of the Eurovision entrants have returned home from their sojourn in Moscow, Russia, and the newspapers across Europe have varied opinions. Most national newspapers congratulated their entrants on a job well done, while others trash-talked other entrants, and still others called for their countries to pull out of the Contest. Here are some interviews, articles and opinions that made it to the front pages of newspapers and to their sanctioned blogs. Norway Norway's mass media was filled with stories revolving around the winner, Alexande

Manchester United needed just one point to clinch the Premier League title Saturday and a 0–0 draw with Arsenal gave them that point. The title is United's 18th league title and 11th since the Premier League formed in 1992. The title is also United's third consecutive and marked the first time since the 1998–99 Treble winning season United clinched in front of a home crowd. Both sides remained scoreless through 90 minutes, and with the draw, second-place Liverpool's hopes of the title were dashed. As the table currently stands, United have ea

India's Congress Party won a large victory in Saturday's general elections. According to state television, the alliance of Congress is ahead or has already won in 263 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party came in a distant second, with 154 seats, and the Third Front won sixty seats. Other parties took the remaining seats. "I express my deep sense of gratitude to the people for giving us this massive mandate, for having reposed their faith in the party," said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The results of the elections come as somewhat

Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse declared victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels on Saturday, after a civil war lasting 26 years. "I will be going back to a country that has been totally freed from the barbaric acts of the LTTE. This freedom comes after 30 long years," Rajapakse said. "My government's precise and well coordinated humanitarian operation has so far succeeded in rescuing over 210,000 civilians who were being used as human shields by the LTTE. "We have restricted the LTTE to one square kilometre-lik

Alexander Rybak's win for Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday evening was well-timed; it was on the eve of Norway's Constitution Day. Constitution Day, observed on May 17, commemorates the first Norwegian constitution drafted at Eidsvoll in 1814. Now it celebrates Norwegian independence as a whole, which was granted by Sweden in 1905. Eurovision win aside, Norwegians don't necessarily need a good reason to celebrate Constitution Day; the Norwegian people are some of the most patriotic in Europe and the iconic national flag, red

Sudan blamed Chad on Sunday of launching an air strike on its territory, a day after accusing the country of mounting two other raids. "This morning at 10.30 local time [0.730 GMT], another visit took place on the same location and using the same method," said Othman al-Aghbash, a spokesman for the Sudanese army. Sudan also accused Chad earlier on Friday of launching a pair of airstrikes into Sudanese territory. Chad promptly dismissed the accusations, claiming that Sudan was "the robber who cries thief." Ali Youssef Ahmed, the head of the

According to official figures, Germany's economy contracted by 3.8% in the first quarter of this year, the worst decline in four decades. This is the fourth consecutive time the quarterly GDP has fallen. The plunge was larger than the 3.2% decline predicted by economists. The Federal Statistics Office reports that the decline was lead by a large slide in exports and investments. "This is a dramatic plunge and a worse start to the year than we could have imagined," said Juergen Michels, an economist for Citigroup in London. Other European cou

In a meeting with Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari in Paris on Friday, French president Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to give twelve million Euro (US$16.2 million) in humanitarian aid to Pakistan. The funds will be given to more than one million internally displaced persons (IPD) in Pakistan who have been forced to flee from their homes following heavy violence between Taliban militants and the Pakistani army in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province. "We've come to an understanding for a larger cooperation for the strengthening of Pakistan, s

On Friday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) seized 1.75 million contraband cigarettes near the Manitoba - Ontario border and in a separate case the New York City Police Department (NYPD) also had a major recovery of 1.17 million cigarettes. Canadian officers seized 150 cases of illegal, unmarked cigarettes, as well as 25 cases of "discount" brand cigarettes during a traffic safety check conducted during National Road Safety Week on the Trans Canada Highway. The NYPD pulled over a U-Haul truck for a traffic violation, a covered licen