Britain was braced on Sunday for its worst storm in a decade, with heavy rain and winds of more than 80 miles (130 kilometers) an hour set to batter the south of the country.

The Met Office national weather center warned of falling trees, damage to buildings and disruption to power supplies and transport when the storm hits overnight to Monday.

A Sunni militant group, Jaish-ul Adl, has claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 14 Iranian border guards in the country's mountainous southeast, ISNA news agency reported Sunday.

The hitherto-unknown Jaish-ul Adl (Army of Justice) said on its website that it was behind Friday's attack, calling it a "severe blow" for the Iranian government.

One of the 30 Greenpeace activists held in Russia for scaling an oil rig to protest Arctic drilling complained in a letter published Sunday that he was being kept in isolation in a cold cell.

"The solitude is weighing on me and I am miserable," Marco Weber said in a letter published by Swiss weeklies SonntagsZeitung and Le Matin Dimanche.

The trial of a Turkish policeman accused of shooting dead a demonstrator in Ankara during anti-government protests will resume Monday, with the victim's family calling for mass rallies to demand justice.

The policeman had appeared on September 23 before the court for "exceeding legitimate self-defense" for shooting 26-year-old Ethemer Sarisuluk in the head during a protest in June.

Madagascar's presidential election received international observers' nod of approval Sunday, as counting progressed slowly two days after the poll to restore democracy.

Representatives of the European Union and regional bloc SADC welcomed Friday's vote, despite organizational hiccups preventing some from casting their ballots to end a four-year political and economic deadlock.

Thousands of Kashmiri people observed a "black day" in Pakistani Kashmir on Sunday, rallying at an event organized by Islamists against Indian "brutalities" and occupation of the Himalayan region.

The rally was set up by the United Jihad Council (UJC), which consists of 16 Islamist groups, militant outfits and political parties, and was attended by jihadi groups including Hizb-ul-Mujahidin and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

The African Union on Sunday accused the Sudan government of preventing an AU delegation from visiting Abyei following talks that failed to make progress on the flashpoint region.

The AU "expresses its deep disappointment and regret that it was unable to undertake the visit (Saturday and Sunday)", it said, accusing Khartoum of postponing it "for contrived security reasons".

A prominent Iranian lawmaker said on Sunday Iran would never agree to shut down its Fordo underground nuclear enrichment facility as demanded by world powers, Mehr news agency reported.

"It is possible that they set some conditions such as shutting down Fordo, which definitely will not happen," Mehr quoted Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the parliament's foreign policy committee, as saying.

A series of crude bombs killed five people in an eastern Indian city on Sunday, shortly before opposition party leader Narendra Modi was due to hold a campaign rally, police said.

Seven small bombs exploded near the venue in Patna where tens of thousands were gathering to hear Hindu hardliner Modi, a popular but divisive leader, launch the opposition's campaign for elections in Bihar state.

A roadside bomb killed a soldier and wounded three others in a restive Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border on Sunday, officials said.

The explosion took place at Chashma Pul, two kilometers east of Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan tribal region, known as a bastion of Taliban and Al-Qaida-linked rebels.