Eight people have been killed and 56 wounded in an attack claimed by the Taliban on a bank in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan, a hospital official told AFP.

Saifullah Khan Ebrahimkhil, the chief of the main hospital in the city, said the casualties included police who it is thought may have been collecting their salaries at the bank.

A former soldier set himself on fire in front of the presidency in Senegal's capital on Friday and was taken to hospital in serious condition, police and witnesses told Agence France Presse.

"I saw a man who had a bottle in his hand and a lighter. He set himself on fire after pouring the contents of the bottle over his body and was evacuated to the hospital," said a witness, adding the man had been dressed in khaki-colored clothing.

Eight people including a policeman were killed and 30 others wounded Friday in a suicide car bomb attack on a police post in Khost, eastern Afghanistan, police said.

The incident, which was blamed on the Taliban, is the latest to target Afghan police who, with the country's army, are due to take control of security from international troops by 2014.

An anchored boat packed with sleeping tourists sank early Thursday in Vietnam's scenic Ha Long Bay, killing 12 people from nine countries in the deadliest tour boat accident since the country opened to foreign tourism 25 years ago.

Vacationers from the U.S., Britain, Australia, Japan, Russia, France, Sweden and Switzerland have been confirmed dead, along with a Vietnamese tour guide, the government said. Another nine foreigners and six locals were rescued by other tour boats in the bay's emerald waters.

A series of blasts leveled arms depots at a Tanzanian army base and killed at least 17 people, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda said Thursday, in the second such incident in two years.

The blasts, which the prime minister said also left at least 145 people wounded, went off inside the Gongo la Mboto army base in Dar al Salaam late Wednesday and destroyed several arms and ammunition depots.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will go on trial for buying underage sex and abuse of power in April, a judge ruled on Tuesday.

Judge Cristina Di Censa, the examining judge at the court in Milan, fixed the date for the first hearing in a fast-track trial for April 6 at 0830 GMT.

A Taliban suicide attacker targeted a popular shopping mall in the heart of the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday, killing two guards and wounding at least two other people, officials said.

Interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told Agence France Presse that the attacker blew himself up after he was stopped at the gates of the Kabul City Centre, Afghanistan's first modern-style indoor shopping complex that opened in 2005.

Hundreds of thousands of women took to Italy's streets Sunday in protest against Silvio Berlusconi, as a key rival launched a scathing attack at the start of a crucial week for the embattled leader.

"Enough!" shouted the tens of thousands who crowded into Piazza del Popolo, a square in central Rome, as protesters voiced their anger at the distorted image of Italian women generated by the prime minister's numerous sex scandals.

A magnitude-6.8 earthquake struck central Chile Friday, centered in almost exactly the same spot where last year's magnitude-8.8 quake spawned a tsunami and devastated coastal communities.

Electricity and phone service were disrupted and thousands of people fled to higher ground following Friday's quake, but the government quickly announced that there was no risk of a tsunami, and there were no reports of damage or injuries.

Three people including two policemen were killed and 26 wounded Saturday in an attack claimed by the Taliban on police headquarters in the volatile Afghan city of Kandahar.

A hit squad stormed a wedding hall across the road at around midday (0730 GMT) and opened fire on the police building amid reports of a total of up to six explosions in Kandahar.