By Mohammed Assadi RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 20 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel and the Palestinians on Saturday to restart negotiations as world powers stepped up diplomatic efforts to push the peace process forward. Ban also called on the Jewish state to stop settlement building in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and said the holy city should be the capital for both Israel and a future Palestinian state. "We have to get n

MOGADISHU, March 20 (Reuters) - A senior official of Somali insurgent group al Shabaab was shot dead on Friday in a rare assassination in the southern port of Kismayu, which is tightly controlled by the al Qaeda-linked rebels. Sheikh Daud Ali Hasan, a commander who has been leading fighting against rival insurgents in the town of Dhobley close to Kenya, was killed near al Shabaab's military base in Kismayu as he returned home on Friday night. "We are after running the killer

*Millions leave, but slums expanding worldwide *China, India growth fuels slum exodus *Millennium goal inadequate - U.N. official RIO DE JANEIRO, March 19 (Reuters) - Almost a quarter of a billion people moved out of slum conditions in the past decade, driven by rapid economic growth in emerging giants India and China, but the number of people living in them continues to rise, the United Nations housing agency said on Friday. The number of people living in shantyt

(Adds quotes, detail) By Christo Johnson FREETOWN, March 19 (Reuters) - At least 200 people were killed when a trench collapsed at an unofficial gold mine in Sierra Leone, the West African country's Ministry of Mineral Resources said on Friday. The accident occurred in the Bo district in the south of the country, about 180 miles (290 km) from the capital, Freetown. "Over 200 artisanal gold miners were killed when a ... trench dug by the miners collapsed,&quot

(Bernd Debusmann is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own) By Bernd Debusmann WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) - In a long report on the war in Afghanistan for the U.S. Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations last summer, one sentence stood out: "If we don't get a handle on the money, we will lose this war to corruption." The money in this context meant the funds, from multiple illicit sources, that finance the Taliban who are fighting the United

* Yemen declares end to northern war with Shi'ite rebels * Yemen says sees signs rebels are serious on truce * Yemen says open to talks with pro-unity elements in south By Rania Oteify DUBAI, March 19 (Reuters) - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh declared an end to a long-running war with northern Shi'ite rebels that drew in neighbouring Saudi Arabia last year, according to a television interview to be aired on Friday. But the president, under i

BEIJING, March 19 (Reuters) - A severe drought across a large swathe of southwest China is now affecting more than 50 million people, and forecasters see no signs of it abating in the short term, state media said on Friday. The drought began last autumn, and is the result not only of less rainfall but also unseasonably high temperatures, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing a central government meeting on the situation. It is affecting the provinces and regions of Guangxi

* Tunnels among targets hit by Israeli strikes * Two civilians wounded (Refiles to add missing words in penultimate paragraph) By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA, March 19 (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft struck at least six targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday a day after a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave killed a Thai worker in Israel, Hamas security officials and witnesses said. Two civilians were wounded in one of three attacks on smuggling tunnels along

* Pregnant women with H1N1 at high risk of critical illness * In study in Australia and NZ, 7 mothers and 7 babies died By Kate Kelland LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) - Pregnant women in Australia and New Zealand who had pandemic H1N1 flu were 13 times more likely to become critically ill and be admitted to hospital, researchers said on Friday. The study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), analysed data from the middle of the southern hemisphere'