LONDON - Britain shook up its troubled border agency Monday after admitting that security checks at ports and airports had been suspended or applied inconsistently for the past five years.

MISRATA, Libya - Four months after the death of Moammar Gadhafi, the people of Misrata were frustrated by stalled reforms. They played a key role in overthrowing the Libyan dictator of 42 years, and were impatient to see the changes they shed blood for.

Pakistan's Senate on Monday passed a bill that makes violence against women and children an offence carrying jail terms and fines, state media said.

NAIROBI - Eritrea, often accused of supporting Islamist rebels in Somalia, on Monday criticised foreign interference in the war-torn country, ahead of an upcoming peace conference in Britain.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria - Gunfire and explosions echoed Monday through a city in northeast Nigeria as fighting between soldiers and members of a radical Islamist sect killed at least two civilians, authorities and witnesses said.

TRIVANDRUM - Two Italian naval officers arrested in connection with the killing of two fishermen off Kerala coast on February 15 have been remanded to custody for two weeks. They will be in police custody for the first three days.

AHMEDABAD - The Gujarat government has ordered high-level inquiry into the stampede at a Hindu shrine in Saurahstra region on Sunday evening, the fourth day of a five-day popular annual religious fair, in which seven people were killed and 40 others injured.

AHMEDABAD - The Gujarat High Court here has awarded a 10-year jail term to a 52-year-old man for raping a minor girl some 26 years ago in Vadodara.

KARACHI - Cases of kidnapping of children have increased alarmingly in the country as more than 7,000 young children were reported kidnapped during 2011 with Karachi accounting for almost 40 per cent of abductions.

COLOMBO - The Sri Lankan Police Narcotics Bureau believes that the island is used as a transit point for smuggling cocaine into countries around the world.