overflow

ing and a third is being built. Syrian state television says its troops are moving into Jisr al-Shughour.

Reports from Yemen say nine soldiers have been killed fighting Islamic militants in the south. The state news agency says 21 al-Qaeda militants were also killed in the province of Abyan. The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh long claimed that only he could

tackle

the challenge of al-Qaeda. He's in Saudi Arabia

undergo

ing treatment for injuries he received in last week's attack on his compound.

Two bombs have exploded in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least seven people and injuring many others. Reports say the blasts ripped through the market area in the city of Peshawar. The explosion took place close to midnight local time.

Islamist militants in Pakistan have been increasing their attacks since Osama Bin Laden was killed in a US raid last month.

Pope Benedict has addressed 2,000 people from European nomadic communities, traditionally known as Gypsies. He urged them to

turn over

a new page in what he called their "painful" history. Here's David Willey.

Groups of Gypsies have come from eastern and central Europe, from France, Germany and Ireland as well as from other parts of Italy to meet the Pope. "You've remained without a homeland," the Pope said, "

recall

ing the often difficult relations with the societies in which you live." The city authorities in Rome have several times destroyed Gypsy encampments, but the Catholic Church now goes out of its way to help provide