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Sri Lanka held remembrance ceremonies in various parts of the island nation to mark the fourth anniversary of the devastating tsunami on Boxing Day, 2004, that claimed over 40,000 lives and displaced more than half a million people..
An island-wide two-minute silence was observed Friday morning as friends and relatives of those...
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Two giant pandas given by China to Taiwan arrived in Taipei on Tuesday amid huge public interest in the latest sign of improving ties between the two political rivals.
The pandas, named Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, arrived on board a chartered EVA Air jet, following a three-hour flight from a panda reserve in China's Sichuan...
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Kabul (dpa) - A suicide car bomber targeted a foreign military convoy Thursday in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, killing more than 20 civilians and one US soldier, officials said.
The death toll in the blast - which came a day after a tanker truck bombing in southern Afghanistan killed six people - had risen throughout...
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Around 30,000 people fleeing battles between United Nations-backed Congolese troops and Tutsi rebels are pouring into refugee camps near the eastern city of Goma, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said Wednesday as fierce fighting continued.
UN helicopter gunships and armoured vehicles have been supporting Congolese troops north of Goma,...
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A bomb blast has killed at least 14 people and injured at least 20 others outside a police training centre located in the capital of India's northeastern Manipur state.According to local police, the bomb, which detonated in Imphal yesterday, was hidden in a parked motorcycle. They also said the death toll may rise. The authorities...
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The government and opposition agreed to hold a nationwide referendum Sunday on the new draft constitution proposed by the president, after he agreed to term limits, a senior official said.
Rural Development Minister Carlos Romero said on Monday the agreement moves up the next general election by one year, to January 2009, which...
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Sweden and Denmark on Monday joined the growing group of European countries that have raised state guarantees for bank deposits amid the ongoing financial turmoil.
In Finland, the cabinet committee on economic policy met Monday to discuss the events, saying Helsinki hoped the moves "will prove efficient in resolving the existing...
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Zimbabwe's prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday made a surprise visit to banks in the capital Harare that were the scene of long queues resulting from cash shortages.
Some of those queuing temporarily forgot about the miseries as they cheered the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader. Others said they had been in...
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At least three people died, two were missing and tens of thousands were evacuated Wednesday as Typhoon Hagupit brought gales and torrential rain to much of southern China.
The typhoon destroyed 7,915 houses and affected some five million people in Guangdong province, where all the casualties were reported, the official Xinhua news...
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Lehman Brothers' collapse rattled European markets just as the continent struggles to avoid recession and the US-spawned credit crisis shows no sign of ending.
While investors awaited the 158-year-old US investment bank's bankruptcy Monday, Germany's main stock index hit a nearly two-year low. The European Central Bank and the Bank of...
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North Korea's leader Kim Yong Il suffered a stroke but was recovering and still in charge of the country, a South Korean lawmaker said Wednesday, citing information from the country's intelligence service.
"There is no power vacuum in Pyongyang," opposition lawmaker Won Hye Young told journalists in Seoul after parliament...
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Simmering anger with the Indian government and its security forces over a land row in the Kashmir Valley has sparked a larger movement that has seen thousands of Kashmiri Muslims take to the streets to demand "azadi," or freedom, in non-violent protests over the past two weeks.
Protestor Shakeel Ahmed, a university student,...
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Five people, including an army officer, were killed Wednesday in India's Jammu and Kashmir state by suspected Islamic militants who had infiltrated across the border from Pakistan, police said.
Security forces had killed one of the militants who were holed up in a house in a residential area on the outskirts of Jammu city, the...
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Baghdad (dpa) - Two suicide bombers were among three terrorists killed Wednesday in a clash with US forces northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the US military said.
One of the bombers was shot dead and the other detonated his explosives as the troops approached, killing himself but causing no other casualties, the military...
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The United States anticipates some changes in the text it has submitted for the consideration of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for a waiver allowing trade in fissile materials with India, an Indian television channel reported Friday.
"There may be changes in the text. But we will not allow any changes that will impede the...
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Russia's army on Wednesday continued its occupation of two enclaves in Georgia as Kremlin officials claimed they would accelerate what they said was an already in-progress withdrawal.
President Dmitry Medvedev promised his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy that all but a 500-strong contingent of peace keepers would leave Georgian...
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In a little street, next to Beijing's Workers' Stadium that hosts Olympic football matches, rests a corrugated iron shed on wheels bearing the Chinese signs for "bicycle" amd "repairs".
It's where Li Guobao earns his living - and also where people from the neighbourhood come together to chat, one of countless such...
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Wednesday's military coup in the north-western African nation of Mauritania divided opinions Thursday, with demonstrations staged both for and against ousted president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
The bigger rally supported the coup, with thousands of people calling on the new ruling military junta to "save" the country's...
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 An Antigua police chief said today that the shooting of the Welsh couple may be related to another killing that took place less than two months ago.The newlyweds, Catherine and Benjamin Mullany, both from south Wales, were shot at the Cocos hotel on Sunday morning. Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service,...
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 Having war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic finally detained,
Serbia
is being urged to catch its fugitive wartime military chief Ratko Mladic, also
sought for genocide.
According to AFP, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
said in Singapore during an Asian tour that the Serbs were progressing and
“making a step forward in...
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 China expressed its concern on Tuesday regarding
the accusations made by the International Criminal Court related to Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir over
state-backed acts of genocide in the country’s beleaguered region of Darfur. However, there was no clue that it would take
measures in order to postpone the progression of...
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Hospitals across Nepal shut
down Thursday after doctors expanded their strike to cover the entire
nation to protest against assaults and threats against them.
The Nepal Medical Association, a doctors' umbrella organization, said
hundreds of hospitals as well as thousands of private clinics and
nursing homes had heeded its calls to...
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At least 15 people were killed Sunday,
including two children, and 22 injured, one of them a Kurdish
politician, in separate attacks in Iraq, security sources said.
In north-east Baghdad, a car bomb rocked the Shiite Shaab district, killing six people and injuring 14, police said.
The explosion, in front of the mortuary of the...
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Pakistani paramilitary troops
threatened the city of Peshawar
and a close tribal area known as the Khyber Agency. The operation started
Friday, when hundreds of troops, soldiers and police crowded the capital of North-West
Frontier Province.
A day later, 400 supplementary
paramilitary troops came in Bara, the most important city...
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 A suicide car bomb outside the Danish embassy in the Pakistani capital Islamabad killed eight people and wounded many others on Monday and al-Qaida claimed responsibility and threatened more attacks.A statement of al-Qaida, which was posted on a Web site frequently used by Islamic militants, said Monday’s attack was carried out in order...
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, the 135th day of 2008 with 231 to follow.The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Venus, Neptune, Uranus and Jupiter. The evening stars are Mars, Mercury and Saturn.Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include English portrait painter Thomas Gainsborough in 1727; Scottish reformer Robert Owen in 1771; opera...
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Two major events are happening this week in Russia. First,
the president Vladimir
Putin is stepping down on Wednesday, May 7, after eight years of presidency and
he will be replaced by Dmitry Medvedev. And second, the Victory Day parade in Moscow
takes place on Friday, May 9.
Intercontinental missiles and tanks are prepared to...
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 The United Nations agency chiefs and the World Bank's representatives decided on Tuesday to set up a task force to tackle the rise in global food prices which is threatening poor countries, which are the world's most vulnerable areas. The United Nations said in a statement the crisis has evolved into “an unprecedented challenge of...
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the 120th day of 2008 with 246 to follow.The moon is waning. The morning stars are Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. The evening stars are Mercury, Mars and Saturn.Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1863; bandleader and composer Edward Kennedy "Duke"...
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 After in London police battled to keep pro-Tibet
demonstrators away from the Olympic flame and more that 20 men had been
arrested, and in Paris the final leg of the 27-kilometre tour from the capital
had to be cancelled because of the protests, Chinese authorities are also
expecting to see protests during the Tibetan stage of the...
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 In order to preserve Tibetan culture, the only thing that China has to do
is to apply existing laws on cultural autonomy. Formally, China’s
constitution guarantees minorities the freedom of thought, expression, assembly
and religion. All 55 of China’s
minoriy groups should have the same rights. Even though more than 150...
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 The symbolical flame of pro-Tibet protests that condemned China’s human-rights record, was blocked by the French police, as it boycotted the Olympic flame.
Police officers claimed the demonstrators turned the Paris
leg of the Olympic torch relay into a public disaster, as the organizers were
forced to snuff out the flame...
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 No fewer than 60 leaders from NATO states, partners and
aspirant members together with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will gather for a three-day meeting in the
Romanian capital Bucharest.
The summit is starting Wednesday and might decide whether it would mark a
decline or a turning point in the...
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 Baghdad witnessed Friday the worst bomb
attack in months. Two bombs exploded in two pet bazaars in the center of the
Iraqi capital, killing approximately 50 people, reports say. One bomb exploded in
Ghazil pet market and the other one a few minutes later, in New Baghdad pet
market. This is the most serious explosion since August 1,...
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 According to witnesses and journalists in Mogadishu, neighborhoods in the Somali
capital were deserted on Sunday, a day after 17 civilians were brutally killed
in the wake of intense fighting between Ethiopian-backed Somali troops and
Islamic insurgents.
Witnesses in Mogadishu's
al-Baraka neighborhood said the dead included women...
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 According to Fiji
police officials, more than 16 people were arrested over an alleged plot to
assassinate Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, the military chief who became prime
minister after leading last year's coup.
Police Commissioner, Esala Teleni, said at a news conference
in the capital Suva,
that three of those arrested were...
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 According to local media, at least nine Turkish soldiers
were killed in fighting with Kurdish militants after midnight on Sunday, and
more soldiers were reported missing forcing Turkey’s prime minister to call an
emergency security summit The deaths dramatically increase the pressure on the
government to launch a military offensive...
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 Although only a fraction of global oil supply could be
immediately threatened by a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq,
the result of any conflict might escalate and disrupt the flow from the Middle
East.
The effect of the dispute was magnified in oil markets as it
came against a backdrop of tightening supply, said Paul...
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the 258th day of 2007 with 107 to follow. The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn, Mars and Venus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter and Uranus. Those born on this date in history are under the sign of Virgo. They include novelist James Fenimore Cooper in 1789; William Howard Taft, 27th president of the United...
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 At least 14 people were killed and more than nine were
wounded when US strike
forces raided the west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
The attack took place over night; several houses were
destroyed in the attack, which took place at about 03:00 (23:00 GMT) in the
Washash neighborhood of the city's Mansour district.
The...
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 Equine influenza viral disease? Apparently recent searches
have come upon an outbreak that might endanger the lives of countless horses in
Australia’s capital, Sydney.
Specialists are on the lookout for specific symptoms that
could lead to the discovery of potentially infected animals. More than eighty
such horses, local and...
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 A report released by the US-based
group Human Rights Watch holds responsible Ethiopian, Somali, and insurgent
forces for severe violations of the laws of war that have resulted in
heavy civilian casualties.
The 113-page report called "Shell-Shocked:
Civilians under siege in Mogadishu" refers to the fights...
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 A terrorist attack is the presumed cause of the derailment
of a train that was travelling from Moscow to St. Petersburg that caused the
injury of 60 people. The incident took place on Monday, at 9:38 p.m. (local
hour) at the 179th kilometer from Moscow of the Oktyabrskaya Railway
near Malaya Vishera, according to Viktor Beltsov, the...
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Though accused by a political rival of tacit protection of
Iran-tied militia, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki expressed his optimism on his
government reconciliation on Sunday.
In the same time US military reported an attack that took
place on Saturday, causing the death of five soldiers and the injury of other
four troops. The...
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 American tourist Gertrude Zint, 90 this year, is unimpressed with the scenic splendour of Kakadu and the other national parks that stud Australia's far north.
"Gorges - they are quarries filled with water. Gorges, gorges, gorges!" she rants. "You drive for hours in a coach and see a gorge - sand and water. I've seen it...
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The 165th day of 2007 with 200 to follow.
Today is Flag Day in the United States.
The moon is waning. The morning stars are Mars, Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Mercury, Venus and Saturn.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of "Uncle Tom's...
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Three weeks ago, Sevilla tried to bring Barcelona down to earth - and were hammered 3-0 at home.
Two weeks ago, Valencia tried to do the same - and crashed 4-0 in the Camp Nou.
Last Saturday came the turn of Real Madrid - who lost 2-0 in the Catalan capital.
All of which has prompted the following question in Spain: is there any...
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German football authorities Wednesday honoured goalkeeper legend Bernd Trautmann for his services to football at a ceremony ahead of an international between Germany and England.
Trautmann, 85, was awarded the German Football Federation pin with diamond - its highest award for a person outside the federation - for his "unique...
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It's hard to tell who is worst off from the prominent trio of AC Milan, Juventus and Roma in the early part of the Serie A season.
Neutral observers note that after six games the league is "thrilling and crazy," but fans of the three powerhouses are already rather frustrated and fear a season of suffering and dismal...
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It's hard to tell who is worst off from the prominent trio of AC Milan, Juventus and Roma in the early part of the Serie A season.
Neutral observers note that after six games the league is "thrilling and crazy," but fans of the three powerhouses are already rather frustrated and fear a season of suffering and dismal...
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Germany announced nine venues for the 2011 women's World Cup at a ceremony in Berlin on Tuesday.
The capital Berlin, Frankfurt, Dresden, Moenchengladbach, Augsburg, Sinsheim, Bochum, Wolfsburg and Leverkusen will be the host cities.
The 16-team tournament will open in Berlin on June 26, with the final to take place in Frankfurt on...
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Investigators in Palermo have arrested two people who appear to be linked to the Mafia and may have tried to infiltrate the local Serie A side, repubblica.it reported Thursday.
Giovanni Pecoraro, a footballers' agent and former manager of Palermo's youth team, and Marcello Trapani, also a players' agent and a lawyer allegedly...
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There seems to be no end to the bad news for coach Marcello Lippi, who has four players missing as the world champions Wednesday welcome Georgia for a second World Cup qualifier.
Midfielder Gennaro Gattuso hurt his wrist as he fell near the bench during a training game at the weekend, and joins an injured list already including...
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Striker Jeremy Menez is due to join Roma from French-league side Monaco on Thursday, Italian media reported.
The 21-year-old Frenchman landed late Wednesday in Rome. Roma are said to have paid 12 million euros (17.7 million dollars) for the player, who should replace Brazilian Mancini in their attack package.
Mancini, 28, a...
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 The Cleveland Browns agreed to terms with offensive lineman Joe Thomas and defensive back Eric Wright making sure that the two will have them in their squad when they open training camp Friday. Thomas, the No. 3 overall pick, signed for six years whit the possibility of being shortened to five years. Financial terms weren’t instantly...
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An Australian lawyer used the social networking website Facebook to track down a defaulting couple when all other conventional methods to find them failed, news reports said Tuesday.
A judge of the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court allowed lawyer Mark McCormack to use Facebook to serve legal documents to a couple who...
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United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu Friday evening for a two-day visit.
During his stay in Nepal, Ban is scheduled to meet Nepalese President Ram Baran Yadav, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav and other politicians.
Talks with Nepalese leaders...
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Australia on Friday came to the aid of second-tier banks and non-bank lenders by offering to buy residential- mortgage-backed securities worth 4 billion Australian dollars (3.3 billion US dollars).
The mortgage market has been in the doldrums because of the global credit crisis, sparking fears that non-bank lenders will go...
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An Afghan district governor along with his two bodyguards were killed mistakenly by NATO-led Australian troops in southern Afghanistan while five police officers and three Taliban militants were killed in a clash and a roadside bombing, officials said Thursday.
Rozi Khan Barekzai, governor of the Chora district in Uruzgan province,...
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Australia announced Wednesday it will provide 50 billion rupiah (5.36 million dollars) to help improve food security and reduce malnutrition among children in eastern Indonesia, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said.
The contribution was announced by Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Bill Farmer, while visiting a clinic...
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 Representatives of an animal protective
group demanded the Australian military to stop the killing of 400 kangaroos in
the capital Canberra.
Wildlife Protection Association of Australia president, Pat O'Brien,
said Tuesday he and other protesters planned to intervene if the killing
continued. The Defense Department says 400 eastern...
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 The people of New Zealand and the mountain Sherpas of Nepal joined
Tuesday in Auckland at the state funeral of Everest conqueror Sir
Edmund Hillary, to honour a man loved and revered in both countries.
"He was a colossus. He was our hero," said New Zealand Prime
Minister Helen Clark. "His extraordinary life has been...
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 Cyclone Daman destroyed two villages on the small Fiji island of
Cikobia early Saturday, according to a Radio New Zealand report from
the capital, Suva.
The first cyclone of the 2007/08 season in the South Pacific, rated
category four, which can have wind gusts up to 279 kilometres an hour,
Daman passed directly over the island...
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Former US President Bill Clinton and his wife, Senator Hillary Clinton, have been given the honour to push the button to drop the crystal ball ushering in the New Year at Times Square, news reports said Tuesday.
The traditional New Year's Eve celebrations at the landmark square will take place Thursday night under a forecast of very...
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A UN special enjoy to Niger has gone missing while driving outside the capital, Niamey, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said.
Canadian Robert Fowler, a Canadian colleague and their driver went missing Sunday, the United Nations said Monday. Their empty car was found with its motor still running.
A UN spokesman said Monday...
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The crisis in world financial markets has its roots in declining home values in the US real-estate market which began in late 2006 and led to a wave of foreclosures and defaults on home loans.
The loans, many to borrowers with poor credit, were bundled into assets that began to weigh heavily on banks' balance sheets around the...
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NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer restated the military alliance's desire to see Ukraine join its ranks at a high-level conference being held in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, on Thursday.
In his opening speech, de Hoop Scheffer said the talks were taking place at a special moment in NATO-Ukraine relations.
"Let me...
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Ford Motor Co on Friday reported a third- quarter operating loss of 2.98 billion dollars and said it would cut jobs and spending to preserve its perilous cash reserves.
One of the US' "Big Three" automakers, Ford said it used up 7.7 billion dollars in cash as revenues plunged.
The losses reported by Ford, the...
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US president-elect Barack Obama's childhood years in Indonesia may provide him with a unique personal link to South-East Asia, but it remains to be seen how deep the old school ties go, analysts warn.
Obama, the first African-American to be elected president, can also claim to be the first US president to have spent almost four...
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Election day finally arrived Tuesday for the record throngs of US voters planning to cast their presidential ballots for either Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain.
Obama held a significant lead in opinion polls as state officials braced for an unprecedented turnout and massive lines at polling places in an election...
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US military spokesmen confirmed that Taliban rebels shot down a US helicopter in central Afghanistan Monday, while three US-led soldiers died in suicide and roadside attacks elsewhere in the country, officials said.
The helicopter crew engaged with Taliban fighters on the ground in Wardak province, about 50 kilometres west of Kabul...
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France will inject 10.5 billion euros (14 billion dollars) into the country's six biggest banks in an effort to provide capital for business and consumer lending, Finance Minister Christine Lagarde announced late Monday.
The government is to subscribe to subordinated debt issued by the six banks but will not gain voting rights.
In...
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Citigroup extended its financial losses for a fourth quarter, registering a loss of 2.8 billion dollars for the period between July and September.
The bank attributed part of its loss to nearly 10 billion dollars in writedowns from loans gone bad and securities that have lost value.
"While our third quarter results reflect...
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US banking giant JPMorgan Chase reported Wednesday net income of 527 million dollars in the third quarter of 2008, plunging 84 per cent year-on-year.
But the results were better than analysts' predictions, remaining in the black despite the severe financial industry and subprime mortgage crisis sweeping the US banking sector.
The...
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US President George W Bush Tuesday said the US government's infusion of 250 billion dollars into the American banking sector was part of a systematic global strategy to calm markets and ensure "growth and prosperity."
The announcement followed coordinated moves by key European governments since the weekend to inject...
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 The National Hurricane Center announced on Wednesday that Hurricane Norbert, the latest hurricane in this season in the Atlantic, approaches Baja in New Mexico, California. Its winds reach 115 miles per hour and the NHC has developed a five-day period during which Norbert was analyzed.Now, the hurricane is located in the Pacific Ocean at...
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US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Monday rejected a break-up of Kosovo after Serbia renewed its threat to seek secession of the former province's minority Serbs.
Gates was the first US cabinet member to visit Kosovo since it declared independence from Serbia in February.
He met Kosovo's leaders and was visiting US troops...
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US banking giant Citigroup Inc will buy the bulk of the operations of fourth-largest bank Wachovia Corp, the latest consolidation move under government watch in the ongoing credit crisis.
Citigroup will buy the banking business of Wachovia and get government help in absorbing some of the losses related to the subprime-mortgage market,...
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The decision by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs - the last two major US investment banks still on their feet - to become bank holding companies signals the end of high-wire finance on Wall Street.
After a year of turmoil in the financial industry that climaxed last week with bankruptcies and government takeovers, the two companies...
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The United States on Friday unveiled part of a massive, comprehensive federal plan to help resolve the ongoing US financial crisis and prevent a rush of new bank failures in the coming weeks.
The US Treasury announced a 50-billion-dollar guarantee programme for the money-market mutual fund industry, the first in a series of moves that...
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US stocks fell sharply on Wall Street's opening bell Wednesday after the Federal Reserve agreed to make an 85-billion- dollar emergency loan to struggling insurance giant American International Group Inc (AIG).
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 200 points, some 2 per cent, within minutes of trading. The broader Standard...
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Kenyan police have set up a 24-hour guard outside the home of US presidential candidate Barack Obama's grandmother after thieves targeted her home, reports said Friday.
Obama's grandmother Sarah, 86, said burglars broke in through her kitchen door in the western Kenyan village of Kogelo and attempted to steal a solar panel from her...
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 On Monday, Hurricane Ike entered the northeastern Cuba and it could take over Havana on Tuesday morning, heading for the U.S. Gulf Coast during the coming week. Nearly 73 people in Haiti were killed by the heavy rains and the floods brought by Ike, leaving every place looking like hell it | | | |
