KINSHASA – Seventeen passengers and crew on the Antonov 26 aircraft belonging to Congolese airline Africa 1 are killed when it crashes into several houses in the Kingasani neighbourhood of Kinshasa, shortly after taking off from Ndjili International Airport. Air travel is notoriously dangerous in the Congo. In 1996, at least 350 people died when a Russian-built Antonov-32 cargo plane ploughed through a crowded market in central Kinshasa, in the former Belgian colony's worst air disaster.

KAMPALA – Thousands of Ugandans face severe food shortages, malnutrition and cholera owing to flooding that has forced them from their homes, say international aid agencies. In separate statements, the United Nations World Food Programme and British charity Oxfam report that 300 000 Ugandans have been affected by some of the worst floods in living memory.

HARARE – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe insists that his government's drive to give farm equipment to resettled black farmers will raise agricultural production and prove critics of his controversial land redistribution wrong. Critics say those now tilling the farms lack proper skills and funding and have exacerbated the country's economic crisis. However, speaking at a ceremony to hand over thousands of tractors and animal-drawn farm tools to the new farmers, Mugabe has acknowledged Zimbabwe's struggle to feed itself but says the government assistance will make a difference.

MONROVIA – German Chancellor Angela Merkel promises she will push for Liberia's large foreign debts to be cancelled to try to help Africa's oldest independent republic recover from a devastating civil war, which lasted from 1989-2003. Merkel, Germany's first female Chancellor, met Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first elected female Head of State, in the capital Monrovia. Once the world's fifth-largest iron-ore exporter and home to the world's largest rubber plantation, Liberia's economy collapsed during more than a decade of on-off conflict.

TRIPOLI – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi says multiparty democracy is a sham promoted by governments that treat their people "like donkeys" and deny them real power, say reports from the official Libyan news agency Jana. In his speech, Gaddafi added that his North African country would never abandon its "state of the masses" system of rule by town hall meetings, which he has long predicted will eventually be embraced by governments around the world. Gaddafi seized power in a coup in 1969 and in 1977 he proclaimed Jamahiriyah popular rule to try to create the perfect society in line with the teachings of his Green Book, which combines aspects of socialism, Islam and Pan-Arabism. Local community meetings known as Basic People's Congresses, surveyed by revolutionary committees composed of Green Book enthusiasts, send up their decisions to a national tier of officials through a pyramid of committees and congresses.

WORLD

NEW YORK – Robert Zoellick marks his first 100 days as head of the World Bank, with a policy speech in which he outlines a strategic direction for the institution that will position it to better deal with challenges in the developing world caused by globalisation. Since joining the World Bank in July, Zoellick has sought to direct its energy towards its mission of fighting global poverty and away from the bruising battle that led to the resignation of Paul Wolfowitz, a former US deputy-defense secretary and an architect of the Iraq war.

WASHINGTON – The US warns that the long-running Doha round of global trade talks is at risk following the insistence of a group of developing countries that they get favourable treatment in the negotiations. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice maintains that the US has repeatedly shown its willingness to cut farm subsidies as part of a world trade deal but it cannot "unilaterally disarm".

"This is a matter of will . . . The major developing countries need to come together to find a way to offer a realistic prospect of market access to US farmers and other exporters", Rice told reporters after a speech on US trade relations with Latin America.