Fast-growing Asian economies may be flush with money but filthy toilets remain a blight across the region despite rising standards of living, with dire effects on poverty reduction and public health.

Social activists say dismal sanitation facilities are causing preventable diseases in poor communities where people would readily spend money on a mobile phone -- but not on a latrine.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday called for the world's help in fighting "terrorism and extremism" after the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden near Islamabad.

"Security and the fight against extremism or terrorism is not the job of only one nation," Gilani told reporters in Paris, where he met with French business leaders.

At least 38 people were killed when Ethiopian armed men attacked a rival community in a remote border region of north Kenya, a local official said Wednesday, warning the toll could rise.

"Where the incident occurred is very remote and mostly not accessible," Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner Osman Warfa told Agence France Presse in an update on Tuesday's attack.

Superman the ultimate American? Perhaps not any more.

The superhero is embroiled in battle with prominent Republicans and others furious at his decision in a new issue of Action Comics to renounce his U.S. citizenship.

France urged its citizens living in or visiting Syria to leave Wednesday and warned others to cancel any plans to visit during the current political crisis, the foreign ministry said.

"While foreign citizens are not so far directly threatened, the French authorities renew their advice to delay all plans to travel to Syria," the ministry said in advice to travelers on its website.

Barcelona reached their second Champions League final in three years after a 1-1 draw with Real Madrid at the Nou Camp in their semi-final second leg clash here on Tuesday saw them progress 3-1 on aggregate.

Barcelona could now face Manchester United in a repeat of the 2009 final - which Barcelona won - as they hold a 2-0 lead over Schalke going into Wednesday's second leg in Manchester.

Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim and an orchestra of prestigious European musicians on Tuesday played an historic concert in Gaza, drawing rapturous applause as they performed in a show of solidarity and peace.

It was the first time such a large group of celebrated classical musicians had played in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, which has been largely sealed off from the rest of the world by an Israeli blockade for nearly five years.

The U.S. government said Tuesday it is taking steps to remove from the market a host of online products that promise to cure HIV, herpes, Chlamydia and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The products, mainly sold on the Internet but also available in some retail outlets, include names like Medavir, Herpaflor, Viruxo, C-Cure, and Never An Outbreak.

Saudi Arabia is unlikely to boost oil production quickly to ease the rise of crude prices, because it needs high prices for its own increased spending, analysts at an international banking think tank said Tuesday.

After producing 8.6 million barrels a day in 2010, the world's leading oil supplier will only kick up production to about 8.9 million barrels this year, said analysts at the Washington-based Institute of International Finance.

Spanish firm Puig, owner of couture labels Nina Ricci and Paco Rabanne, said Tuesday it had taken a majority stake in French fashion house Jean Paul Gaultier, whose namesake creator retains artistic control.

Puig paid 16 million euros ($24 million) for Hermes' 45 percent stake while the flamboyant 59-year-old couturier, who owned 55 percent stake in his own brand, also sold an unspecified stake.