ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghanaians gave U.S. President Barack Obama a jubilant welcome on his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as head of state on Saturday, hailing his achievements and his African heritage.

Accra residents applauded the message from America's first black president that Africa must take responsibility for solving its own problems, though tight security and roadblocks meant few were able to catch sight of him.

Australian consular officials visited Stern Hu, the head of Rio Tinto's iron ore operations in China, yesterday

Mr Smith says Mr Hu's family and his employer have been briefed on the consular visit.

"Mr Hu appeared well and raised no health or welfare issues during the meeting," the minister said.

"Australian officials continue to seek further information from Chinese authorities about the circumstances surrounding Mr Hu's detention."

ACCRA, Ghana, July 11 -- President Obama, making his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office, called on people of the oft-troubled continent today to seize control of their future by building strong, democratic institutions and eliminating corruption.

Obama, who is being feted by Ghanaians thrilled by the historic visit of the United States' first black president, did not revel in the adulation he received here during a speech to a special session of parliament. Rather, he delivered a blunt but optimistic message about how Africa can shape its destiny.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- A ferry has capsized off Haiti's southern coast, killing at least six people. Dozens are missing.

Civil protection official Jean-Michel Sabbat says the boat overturned Saturday morning en route from Anse a Pitre, near the Dominican border, to the southern peninsula city of Jacmel.

Sixteen survivors have been rescued and crews are still searching. Sabbat says rough estimates put as many as 60 people aboard the vessel.

MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - A car bomb in a market killed at least four people and wounded 50 in the violent northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Saturday, police said.

Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province are among the last remaining strongholds of insurgents in Iraq, who have stepped up bombings to test Iraqi security forces since the U.S. military pulled out of Iraqi cities at the end of last month.

The latest bomb struck an area of eastern Mosul largely inhabited by the minority Shabak ethnic group, who speak Kurdish and profess the Shi'ite version of Islam.

Jul 11th, 2009 | ISLAMABAD -- After relative success against Islamic extremists elsewhere, Pakistan's military faces its toughest test yet -- a surgical operation against the country's most dangerous militant in a region of harsh terrain and fierce tribal rivalries.

The target of the air and ground offensive now in its early phases is Baitullah Mehsud, the top commander of Pakistan's Taliban who has ties to al-Qaida. Mehsud is believed responsible for scores of suicide attacks -- possibly including the December 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Gordon Brown today insisted the UK is winning the war in Afghanistan despite a surge in the deaths of British soldiers.

The Prime Minister claims troop morale remains high despite the deaths of eight soldiers in the space of 24 hours.

In a letter to senior MPs Brown acknowledged the ‘tragic loss’, but said current operations against the Taliban were succeeding.

The death toll in Afghanistan since combat began in 2001 has now reached 184, overtaking the 179 killed in Iraq.

ACCRA, Ghana, July 11 -- Proud Ghanaians fanned out in this capital city in t-shirts, stocking caps and dresses printed with images of President Obama, who is making rounds Saturday on his first presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa.

But although the setting was the sultry West African coast, the environment was American-style security. About 10,000 police officers lined city streets and blocked roads near Obama's itinerary stops, dogs sniffed around the building where Obama addressed parliament, helicopters flew overhead.

Afghan police and coalition forces killed 19 suspected militants in two separate clashes in southern Afghanistan, while four Afghan guards were killed near the capital, officials said Saturday.

The militants died in two clashes in Uruzgan's Charchino district Friday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. There were no casualties among police of foreign troops, it said.

Southern Afghanistan is the central battlefield in the fight against the Taliban, which has made a comeback as an insurgency since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled its hard-line government in 2001.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - After relative success against Islamic extremists elsewhere, Pakistan's military faces its toughest test yet - a surgical operation against the country's most dangerous militant in a region of harsh terrain and fierce tribal rivalries.

The target of the air and ground offensive now in its early phases is Baitullah Mehsud, the top commander of Pakistan's Taliban who has ties to al-Qaida. Mehsud is believed responsible for scores of suicide attacks - possibly including the December 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

URUMQI, China (Reuters) - China raised the death toll from ethnic rioting in Xinjiang, giving for the first time the ethnicity of the dead, and a big security presence in the city at the centre of the strife prevented protests on Saturday.

The official Xinhua news agency said 184 people had died in the July 5 riots in Urumqi, the Xinjiang regional capital, and 137 of those killed were Han Chinese, who form the majority of China's 1.3 billion population. The previous death toll was 156.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan has completed its investigations into five suspects accused of involvement in last year's attack on Mumbai, and they are expected to be put on trial next week, the interior minister said on Saturday.

The announcement was likely to be welcomed by India, which has demanded Pakistan take action against those behind the attack before it will resume peace talks.

PHNOM PENH, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The measures China has taken following the rioting in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are "appropriate," the Cambodian government said Saturday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said in a statement that it considers the action taken by the Chinese government in Xinjiang as "its exclusive internal affairs."

"The government of China is taking appropriate measures to address the problem and restore social order," the ministry said in the statement.

A car bomb detonated in a market killing at least four people and wounded at least 38 others in the latest Iraqi violence.

The bomb exploded in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police told Reuters. Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province are among the last remaining strongholds of insurgents in Iraq, who have recently stepped up bombings to challenge Iraqi security forces since the U.S. military pulled out of Iraqi cities at the end of June.

KABUL - Afghan police and coalition forces killed 19 suspected militants in two separate clashes in southern Afghanistan, while four Afghan guards were killed near the capital, officials said Saturday.

The militants died in two clashes in Uruzgan's Charchino district Friday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. There were no casualties among police of foreign troops, it said.

Southern Afghanistan is the central battlefield in the fight against the Taliban, which has made a comeback as an insurgency since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled its hard-line government in 2001.

Dong Yuanyuan should be on honeymoon, sightseeing in Shanghai with her husband. But late last Sunday night, their bus stopped when a set of traffic lights in Urumqi turned red.

A few seconds earlier and the newlyweds might have escaped the ethnic riot sweeping the city. Instead, the hail of rocks and sticks that crashed down on them began an ordeal that would leave the 24-year-old teacher with injuries to her head, neck, arms and legs – and without her husband.

BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhua) -- A second round of talks between representatives of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and interim leader Roberto Micheletti ended Friday without any breakthroughs.

Both parties promise more meetings in the near future but an expert on Honduras thinks it will be a while before there is a resolution to the political drama.

"There will not be a prompt solution to the Honduras coup crisis," Jiang Xueshi, deputy director of the Institute of Latin American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), told Xinhua.

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) - Protocol says you stand when the president walks into a room. But for a handful of pregnant women, President Barack Obama was willing to make an exception.

Obama and first lady Michelle Obama highlighted prenatal health during a program Saturday at a La General Hospital in Ghana. When the first couple joined the group, many of the visibly pregnant women stood.

"Maybe all the mothers can sit down," Obama said.

URUMQI, China -- China released a breakdown Saturday of the death toll from communal rioting, saying most of the 184 killed were from the Han Chinese majority - an announcement that only fueled suspicion among Muslim Uighurs that many more of their people died.

Identifying the ethnic background of the dead for the first time since last Sunday's unrest in western Xinjiang, the government's Xinhua News Agency cited provincial officials as saying 137 victims were Han while 46 were Uighurs and one was a Hui, another Muslim group.

ISLAMABAD, July 11 (Xinhua) -- An anti-terrorism court will begin trial of five suspects of the Mumbai attacks next week, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday.

Nearly 170 people were killed and over 300 injured when a group of 10 gunmen attacked at least five locations in the Indian commercial capital in November 2008.

India blamed Pakistan-based outlawed groups "Lashkar-e-Taiba" and its frontal organization Jamaat-ud-Dawaa for masterminding the Mumbai attacks. The groups had denied any involvement.