Two Britons have been arrested in Kenya near the border with Somalia, police in Wales said Tuesday.

The pair, believed to be from the Welsh capital Cardiff, were detained on Sunday, according to the Foreign Office in London, which said it was ready to provide consular assistance if required.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thanked Malta for evacuating U.S. nationals from Libya at the start of the rebellion against Moammar Gadhafi during a visit to the island state on Tuesday.

The Maltese government "went the extra mile" to evacuate foreign nationals, Clinton said following talks with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake rocked Papua New Guinea's remote New Britain region on Tuesday, but was unlikely to cause a tsunami, Australian seismologists said.

The US Geological Survey said the quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers, about 163 kilometers east-northeast of Kandrian, New Britain and some 576 kilometers from the capital Port Moresby.

Cross-border attacks emanating from Pakistan against U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan have increased since the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, the Pentagon said Monday.

Asked if there was a recent rise in artillery or rocket fire across the border into Afghanistan, press secretary George Little told reporters in an email: "This summer, June-August, we did see an increase in cross border incidents."

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged Serbia and Kosovo to patch up their boundary dispute, saying blocked borders were unacceptable.

"I am urging them to resolve all the pending issues, it is unacceptable that the borders are blocked," said Ban in Bern.

Several dozen heavily armed militants killed nine Pakistani troops in the northwest on Monday, spotlighting the insurgent threat, with Islamabad under US pressure to take tougher action.

About 30 gunmen armed with mortar shells and rifles ambushed the paramilitaries in the Bara district of Khyber, part of the lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border used by NATO troops to truck supplies into Afghanistan.

About 3,000 U.S. and Filipino marines started two weeks of annual military drills in the Philippines on Monday that will include a hostile beach assault exercise near the disputed Spratly Islands.

U.S. Marine 1st Lt. Nick Eisenbeiser said the Oct. 17-28 maneuvers would focus on honing their joint capability to ensure regional security and were not aimed at China or any country as an imaginary target.

Afghan security forces are showing "significant progress" with a swell of new recruits and better training, NATO's head of training said Monday before leaving his post.

Lieutenant General William Caldwell said he was optimistic about the country's ability to "sustain the force we've built them... over the long term" after NATO troops hand over security responsibility to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez left for Cuba on Sunday for what he said would be a thorough medical exam after undergoing multiple rounds of chemotherapy in his battle with cancer.

In brief remarks before departing for Havana, Chavez told official VTV television that the visit was to "continue a process we have been following for about four months," but did not reveal further details of his health.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Monday she was determined to hold on to power until the next election in 2013 as two new polls showed she would be dumped by voters if one was called now.

Amid rising speculation that former Labor leader Kevin Rudd, ousted by his then deputy Gillard in a sudden party coup in mid-2010, will challenge for the leadership, the prime minister said she would stand firm.