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For the past 10 days, torrential monsoon rainfall has killed more than 1,600 people inflicted widesperad damage across the country, with the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) suffering the greatest losses, federal authorities and aid agencies say.

Yangon - A month-long closure of the Thai-Myanmar border to trade has caused a shortage of consumer items such as televisions and refrigerators in Yangon, media reports said Sunday.

Myanmar's ruling junta last month shut down the Myawaddy-Mae Sot border crossing after accusing Thailand of building an embankment on the Moei River to alter the common border line.

Mae Sot, in Thailand's Tak province, is a major source of Thai consumer goods into neighbouring Myanmar, usually transported across the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge.

In the UK, Virgin Atlantic Airways and British Airways have raised fares.

Both airlines have cited an increase in business travel as the reason for being able to generate higher fares.

The biggest long-distance carriers at London's Heathrow airport, have claimed increases in bookings of up to 14 percent over three month periods.

British Airways has said its rises were across all classes, with premium sales more buoyant due to companies now allowing their employees to book more expensive seats.

Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro Saturday delivered a speech on the Iranian nuclear issue before country's parliament, his first official appearance in four years.

Dressed in his trademark olive green military uniform, the 83-year-old leader was greeted with applause as he walked in, Xinhua reported.

Castro warned that there could be a nuclear war if US President Barack Obama ordered an attack on Iran. The special session broadcast on television was held to debate Castro's warnings about the risks of a nuclear war.

Saddam Hussein's former deputy prime minister, Tareq Aziz, has been highly critical of the US policy to withdraw combat troops, which will happen despite a recent upsurge in violence.

During this fall's election fight, Congress will have to take up an especially controversial issue. It will have to decide whether to extend a series of tax cuts that are scheduled to expire at the end of this year.

Closer international cooperation is necessary to help Pacific island nations combat the impact of climate change, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, pledging the United Nations’ commitment to mitigating the problem.

Stressing that Japan has a unique role to play in the area of nuclear disarmament, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the nation’s young people to lead the way on efforts to rid the world of these deadly weapons.

For Army Sgt. John Larsen of the Missouri National Guard, going to Afghanistan for a year to improve that nation's ability to feed its people is a calling.

UN agencies have calculated that the Gaza Strip needs about 86,000 new housing units, mostly because of population growth but also to replace the thousands of homes destroyed or damaged as a result of Israeli military operations.