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MANILA (Reuters) - A bomb believed to have been set off by a mobile phone exploded outside an air base in the troubled southern Philippines on Thursday, killing two people and wounding 18 others, police and the military said.

PORONG, Indonesia (Reuters) - Two years after a mud volcano started erupting on Indonesia's Java island, thousands of people who lost their homes are still living in squalid makeshift shelters with no signs the flow of sludge is about to stop soon.

DUJIANGYAN, China (Reuters) - A local official in Sichuan province withdrew from the prestigious Olympics torch relay as "atonement" for construction problems at collapsed schools, even as rescuers battled rain, lakes and chemicals in the aftermath of the devastating May 12 earthquake.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Rumors are a way of life when it comes to North Korea, one of the world's most secretive states, but a rare one on Thursday about the assassination of its leader led to market jitters in Japan.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's main Sunni Arab political bloc said on Wednesday it had suspended talks to rejoin the Shi'ite-led government after a disagreement with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki over a cabinet post.

Siphiwe Sibeko, who was born and raised in Soweto township, is a mostly self-taught photographer who joined Reuters in Johannesburg in 2005 after working for several leading South African newspapers. In the following story, he describes covering the anti-foreigner violence that has swept parts of South Africa.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Sen. Barack Obama said on Wednesday he expected to become the Democratic U.S. presidential nominee after next week and he is considering an overseas trip that may include Iraq.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former White House spokesman Scott McClellan, defending his book critical of President George W. Bush and the Iraq war, said on Thursday he may have made a mistake by not speaking out sooner.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's political parties voted on Wednesday to abolish the Himalayan kingdom's 239-year-old Hindu monarchy, a key demand of Maoists after they ended a decade-long war against the government.

TAIPEI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China and Taiwan will hold talks next month to hammer out the first steps in opening regular direct flights between the two sometimes bitter rivals, as ties warm following the election of a new president on the island.

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's military sank two Tamil Tiger boats killing at least five rebels before dawn on Thursday, and rebel artillery fire killed four civilians, the military said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A general-election race for the White House between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain would feature vastly different approaches on the thorniest political issues, from Iraq and diplomacy to taxes and health care.

CHARLEVILLE-MEZIERES, France (Reuters) - Self-confessed killer and rapist Michel Fourniret and his wife Monique Olivier were sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday in one of France's grimmest serial murder cases.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The grueling Democratic presidential nominating race moves on Saturday from the campaign trail to a Washington hotel, where party officials will hunt for a compromise over disputed contests in Michigan and Florida.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - After decades of foot-dragging, Canada is finally about to take a close look at what one aboriginal leader calls "the single most disgraceful, harmful and racist act in our history".

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Ash from the Chaiten volcano that has been erupting in Chile for nearly a month led the country's flagship airline LAN to cancel flights to a string of small airports on Wednesday.

HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan television journalist Niloufar Habibi never wore the all-enveloping burqa until she was stabbed on her doorstep. Now it is her disguise.

CULIACAN, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican police need bigger guns to fight increasingly violent drug gangs, a federal police chief said on Wednesday, after drug hitmen killed seven officers in the northern city of Culiacan.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - A draft treaty for a worldwide ban on cluster munitions was adopted on Wednesday although major powers including the United States did not attend the meeting.

PRETORIA (Reuters) - South Africa's government said on Wednesday it was offering shelter to tens of thousands of African migrants who fled their homes during a wave of xenophobic attacks but denied it was setting up camps.