International

By IANS, Sydney : Four people had a miraculous escape after an explosion in an Indian restaurant severely damaged the property. Police are hunting for two men seen running from the scene after the blaze at the restaurant in Cleveland Street, Surry Hills, broke out Monday night, the Australian news agency AAP reported. Four people in a residential property above the business escaped, the report said. About 20 fire tenders managed to bring the blaze under control just after midnight, a spokesman for New South Wales Fire Brigades said.

Male: Maldives island residents saw "low flying plane" of the morning of disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Maldivian news website Haveeru reported. Residents...

By IANS, Washington : Food additives in damaged polymers can help restore them to full strength, say Illinois University scientists who cooked up the novel, self-healing system. "While our previous solvent worked well for healing, it was also toxic," said Scott White, a professor of aerospace engineering and a researcher at the university's Beckman Institute. "Our new solvent is both non-toxic and less expensive."

Copenhagen, October 06, SPA -- Danish police used teargas to break up a major demonstration in Copenhagen Saturday in which 436 young people were detained and a number of people injured, radio reports said according to DPA. The protesters were demanding a new autonomous youth centre be made available in the capital's north-west following the demolition of a landmark "alternative scene" youth centre six months ago.

By IANS

Kathmandu : With less than four months remaining for the crucial constituent assembly election, Nepal's eight-party government faces fresh disruption with two groups of ethnic protesters warning of a fresh stir after Aug 5.

One of the most powerful groups from the Terai plains, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, Saturday gave Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's government eight days to meet its demands or face fresh agitation in the plains.

By M.R. Narayan Swamy, IANS Singapore : Premier Wen Jiabao said Wednesday that China backs international civil nuclear energy cooperation with India, remarks seen as Beijing's inclination not to block New Delhi's efforts to conduct nuclear commerce. Wen made the remarks to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a 30-minute bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit here as New Delhi was set for talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on an India-specific safeguards agreement.

By DPA, Kiev : An explosion in a Ukrainian block of flats killed at least 24 people and left dozens buried, officials said Thursday. The blast took place Wednesday evening in a Soviet-era five-storey prefabricated concrete building in Evpatoria, on the Black Sea shore of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. More dead were likely to be discovered as rescue workers had only picked through the top two floors of the fallen building, and debris from remains of three more floors remained to be inspected, Eduard Hrivovsky, a ministry for emergency situations spokesman, said.

By IANS, Washington : US President Barack Obama has urged the Congress to pass a cybersecurity bill to boost digital defence against cyber attacks.

By IANS, Moscow : Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) will grow by 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent in 2012 and 2013 respectively, the World Bank said Wednesday.

By IANS,

By IANS, Toronto : Calling the proposed immigration changes a blow to Canadian multi-culturalism, opposition leader Jack Layton has vowed to oppose the amendment "every step of the way". If the Conservative government manages to enact these changes, Layton said that his New Democratic Party (NDP) would "work to roll these back" after the next elections. "The government is putting in place an arbitrary process under which you may not be allowed to come here even if you qualify. The immigration minister has been given the powers to pick and choose," Layton told IANS.

By IANS, Washington: An elementary school in the US state of Oklahoma was briefly locked down after a teacher found a loaded gun in his chair, media reports said.

By IANS, Kuala Lumpur : The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) has demanded that 60 percent of the 523 Tamil schools in the country be rebuilt by 2011 under a financial package allotted to promote better education among the two million-plus ethnic Indians. MIC President S. Samy Vellu urged the government to set up a committee to coordinate rebuilding and refurbishing of the schools, for which a RM 50 million ($23 million approx.) stimulus package has been planned.

By NNN-Nepal News Kathmandu : The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) summoned and interrogated the chief of Armed Police Force (APF) and Home Secretary to inquire about the insecurity leading to carnage in Kapilvastu recently. At a time when there have been widespread condemnations over the lax security, the Commission had summoned APF chief Basudev Oli and Home Secretary Umesh Mainali for explanations.

By Anil Giri, Kathmandu : Though some substantive achievement has been made in the region for overall development of children, compared with developed nations, South...

By DPA, Port-au-Prince : The Haitian government declared the search-and-rescue phase over Saturday as the first official estimate put the toll from the devastating earthquake at more than 111,000 people. Yet even as the search slowed and the emphasis turned to relief operations, television broadcaster CNN reported a young man was found alive under the rubble of Hotel Napoli in Port-au-Prince, 11 days after the earthquake left much of the Haitian capital in ruins. French, Greek and US rescue teams were on the scene.

By IANS, Caracas : Venezuela's armed forces have discovered a camp set up by a Colombian militia group inside the country and arrested four of its members, Spain's EFE news agency reported Wednesday quoting a top military official. The secret camp of the outlawed United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, or AUC, was found last Thursday in the western state of Zulia near the Colombian borders, General Jesus Gonzalez said, adding that the camp was set up to train the right-wing paramilitaries.

Rome: An Italian, recognising a same-sex marriage contracted overseas, has authorised two men to have their union recorded in the local civil registry. The court...

By IANS New York : New research into the history of the potato has rubbished two popular theories about how they travelled from their homeland in South America to Europe - and then to the rest of the world. The study, by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, used DNA to conclude that a whopping 99 percent of all modern potatoes are descendents of varieties once grown in south-central Chile.

By IANS, London : A royal gun salute marking the Queen's coronation was cancelled after an Army horse died accidentally while participating in the ceremony.

By DPA, Mexico City : A Mexican beauty queen arrested last December on suspected connections to illegal drugs was Friday released without being charged, the prosecutor's office said. Laura Elena Zuniga, 23, who is Hispanic America Queen 2008 and was to represent Mexico in the Miss Universe 2009 pageant, was suspected of membership in a criminal organization, possessing illegal weapons and criminal violations of public health. But prosecutors said Friday that they had not found any evidence that she was involved in criminal activity.

Geneva : Up to 3,072 illegal migrants are believed to have died in the Mediterranean so far in 2014, compared with an estimated 700...

By DPA Washington : US President George W. Bush has warned that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to a third world war, trying to persuade countries to step up pressure on the Islamic state that has called for the destruction of Israel. Bush Wednesday said Iran poses a threat to peace and referred to comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has previously said Israel should be eliminated.

By EFE, Mexico City : Thirteen Mexicans have been arrested for building a clandestine tunnel, which was equipped with a elevator, under the border with the US, authorities said. "The tunnel is equipped with the most advanced technology and was presumably going to be used to smuggle drugs, arms and people into the United States," Mexico's Public Safety Secretariat said Thursday.

By DPA, Geneva/Tel Aviv: The president of the UN Human Rights Council Wednesday called for Israel to collaborate with the team he has appointed to investigate the deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May. "I hope they will engage positively ... with the mission," Sihasak Phuangketkeow said in Geneva. The three-member "independent international fact-finding mission" is tasked with travelling to the Middle East to examine whether the flotilla raid, which left nine Turkish activists dead, violated international law.

By NNN-Petra Brussels : Jordan has taken part in the meeting of NATO foreign ministers which started on Dec 7 2007 in Brussels. Foreign Minister Salahiddin Al Bashir headed the Jordanian delegation to the Mediterranean Dialogue Ministerial. The delegation comprises Jordanian Ambassador to European Union (EU) and the Kingdom of Belgium Ahmad Massa’deh and diplomat at Jordanian Embassy Ali Al Bsoul. Al Basher is expected to meet with a number of his European and Arab counterparts for talks on bilateral ties between Jordan and their respected countries.

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

By SPA United Nations : United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Madrid next week to open the inaugural meeting of the Alliance of Civilizations, an international dialogue initiative. Ban is expected to attend alongside leaders from countries including Spain and Turkey, according to Alliance of Civilizations acting director Shamil Idriss. The Alliance, an initiative of the Spanish and Turkish governments under the auspices of the United Nations, was started in June 2005 to build bridges between nations and cultures through dialogue.

By Sreya Basu, IANS, Kolkata : There is a rising demand in India to learn the Chinese language, but New Delhi is hardly issuing visa to teachers from China, says Beijing's top diplomat here. "There are no native Chinese teachers to teach the language to Indians since April 2008 despite the growing demand to learn the language," Consul General Mao Siwei said in an interview here. "The main problem is they don't get Indian visa easily. They are not directly denied the visa but the procedure is delayed for so long that the teachers ultimately give up," Mao told IANS.

By Parveen Chopra, IANS New York : A military recruitment station near New York City's landmark Times Square was targeted with a low-grade explosion early Thursday. Security agencies took a serious view of the incident though nobody was injured. The blast caused by a low-grade explosive device kept in a small ammunition box occurred around 4 a.m. local time at the empty recruitment centre. It left a gaping hole in the front window and shattered a glass door, twisting and blackening its metal frame. No one was injured even though some policemen were in the vicinity.

By Arun Kumar, IANS,

Kiev: The Crimean parliament Friday voted unanimously in favour of a new constitution that proclaims it a legal and democratic state within the Russian...

By RIA Novosti Auckland : A woman who stabbed both pilots on board a 19-seater New Zealand commuter plane and then threatened to detonate a bomb has been charged with hijacking, police said on Friday. The incident took place on board a commercial flight between Blenheim and Christchurch, both on the country's South Island. The woman, 33, and originally from Somalia, reportedly demanded to be flown to Australia.

By DPA, Bangkok : Climate-change adaptation is likely to cost developing countries $75-90 billion annually from 2010 to 2050, according to a study released Wednesday by the World Bank. Based on an assumption that global temperatures would rise at least two degrees Celsius over the next four decades, adaptation costs for the developing world in such sectors as infrastructure "climate proofing" are to cost $75-90 billion a year, the bank said on the sidelines of UN climate-change talks being held this week and next in Bangkok.

Paris: French President Francois Hollande has named Interior Minister Manuel Valls to head his new "fighting" executive team, replacing Jean-Marc Ayrault after the Socialists...

By DPA, Cairo : A senior Al Qaeda leader in a video distributed Wednesday urged Muslims to launch a holy war against Chinese "invaders" in response to the "massacre" of Uighurs in western China. "The atheist criminals have long used the most despicable, cruel and brutal means against Muslims in Turkistan," said Abu Yayha al-Libi, who is sometimes identified as the commander in Afghanistan of the international terrorist network Al Qaeda. "Thousands of Muslims were killed, and no one knows about them," he said in the 20-minute video, referring to Uighurs living in China.

New Delhi : The Indian government is working with authorities in Saudi Arabia for repatriation of the mortal remains of an Indian worker allegedly...

Rome : Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been found guilty of bribing a senator in 2006 in an attempt to bring...

By IANS Kathmandu : A maternity hospital built in southern Nepal with the assistance of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has not been in use even four years after its completion due to the government's failure to appoint doctors, state media reported Tuesday. Located in Taulihawa town in Kapilavastu district, the region where the Buddha was born, the hospital was built at a cost of Nepali Rs.4.3 million, the government-owned Rising Nepal daily said Tuesday. It has eight post-operation wards and state-of-the-art surgical equipment. However, there is no doctor.

By Venkata Vemuri, IANS, London : Winston Churchill once called Mahatma Gandhi "a bad man and an enemy of the Empire" who should have been done away with. The war-time prime minister of Britain told Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts of South Africa at a meeting of the war cabinet in London in the 1940s: "You are responsible for all our troubles in India - you had Gandhi for years and did not do away with him." To which, Smuts replied: "When I put him in prison - three times - all Gandhi did was to make me a pair of bedroom slippers."

London, Oct 23, IRNA, Two High Court judges have criticized as "deeply disturbing" the refusal by the US to disclose evidence that could prove a British resident held at Guantanamo Bay was tortured before confessing to terrorism offenses. There was "no rational basis" for the American failure to reveal the contents of documents essential to the defence of Binyam Mohamed, who faces the death penalty, Lord Justice Thomas and Justice Lloyd Jones said.

By Xinhua, Seoul : South Korean President Lee Myung-bak held talks with a visiting North Korean delegation here Sunday amid Pyongyang's latest conciliatory moves that show signs of easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, media reports said. A high-level North Korean delegation arrived here Friday to pay their last respect to late former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung who died recently.

By SPA Nairobi : Kenya's opposition is to take to the streets again to protest against President Mwai Kibaki after unsuccessful international mediation talks, a spokesman for the Orange Democracy Movement (ODM) said Friday, according to dpa. The government had not shown any willingness to hold talks, the spokesman added. A mass rally originally scheduled for Tuesday this week was cancelled to create a "peaceful frame" for mediation efforts by Ghanaian President and African Union leader John Kufuor.

By IANS, Durban : In an effort to combat the scourge of HIV and Aids, over two million men will be circumcised in South Africa's eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, BuaNews reported Friday. The premier of KwaZulu-Natal province, Zweli Mkhize, said Thursday this initiative had received overwhelming support from HIV activists and the medical fraternity. The process will begin April 11.

New Jersey: A New Jersey court has sentenced last of five men charged with the 2010 fatal beating of an Indian-American computer scientist Divyendu...

By Xinhua, Mexico City : At least 22 people were killed and 10 others were missing in a massive landslide in northern Guatemala, emergency officials said. The landslide occurred in Alta Verapaz district, some 200 km north of Guatemala City, Sunday night. Falling stones and mud hit several people walking along a nearby road, an official said. According to a local radio, around 10 people were missing after the landslide. Rescue workers were continuing their search for the missing people, the report said.

By RIA Novosti, Geneva : Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a symbolic "reboot" to improve relations between the two countries when they met in Geneva Friday. As a symbolic start to the process, Clinton brought to the meeting a yellow box with a large red "reset" button, which she asked Lavrov to push with her. On either side of the button was a label in English "reset", and what was supposed to be a Russian translation.

By DPA, Shariff Aguak (Philippines) : Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Saturday declared martial law in a southern province where 57 people were murdered and security forces rounded up at least eight prime suspects in the gruesome crime. Arroyo said she placed Maguindanao province, 930 kilometres south of Manila, under military rule as "heavily armed groups (in the area) have established positions to resist government troops."

By IRNA,

By DPA, Paris : Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called Thursday for a quick resumption of talks on a new partnership agreement with the European Union. Speaking to journalists after meeting in Paris with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, Putin said that the talks should be taken up again "as soon as possible”. Monday, EU foreign ministers had agreed on a mandate for a new partnership accord with Russia. But authorities in Moscow still fear that the talks will drag on without reaching a conclusion this year.

By Arun Kumar IANS,

By Neena Bhandari, IANS, Sydney : Flame-proof, anti-piracy, stab-resistant and a host of other cutting-edge fabrics, produced by New Zealand's government-owned research group AgResearch, will be on show at the country's annual fashion week beginning Tuesday. A team of AgResearch textile scientists has worked with 10 of New Zealand's top fashion designers to create a special collection of garments made from the revolutionary fabrics, based on Merino wool. The AgResearch developed fabrics include Natural Easy Care 100 percent wool shirting and suiting fabrics.

By Xinhua, Tokyo : A U.S. nuclear-powered submarine arrived at the U.S. naval base in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture Monday to give a short break to its crew, said reports from the southwestern Japanese port city of Nagasaki. The submarine "La Jolla", with a displacement of 6,080 tons, came amid widespread concerns in Japan over radioactive leakage by another Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine "Houston" when it called at the port in March.

By DPA, London : Plans to build a "super-mosque" next to the site for the 2012 Olympic Games in London have collapsed and the Islamic group behind the project will be evicted later this week, a London council responsible for the district said Monday. Newham Council in east London said the Islamic group Tablighi Jamaat, which has been operating a temporary mosque on the land in question since 2006, had been asked to leave the land by Thursday.

By Prensa Latina Paris : The legal battle in France to ban the transgenic corn strain OGM MON810 produced by the US company Monsanto has had a successful end with the official ban released Saturday. French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier announced a decree that bans trading with corn seeds developed from the genetically altered MON810 strain. The ban will be in force until a new trading license is arranged. Ex presidential candidate Jose Bove, who carried out a hunger strike in Paris last January to protest transgenic products, considers it a success.

By Jaideep Sarin, IANS,

By Xinhua, Bangkok : Thai senior police officials on Wednesday denied reports that they planned to forcefully disperse the anti-government demonstrators at the Government House, although core members of the rally said they were prepared to be arrested. Anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) leader Chamlong Srimuang said earlier that he and the other core members of the activist group were prepared to be arrested if police decided to disperse the group's demonstration.

By IANS, Yangon : US President Barack Obama will Monday undertake a historic visit to Myanmar, one among the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

By DPA, Belgrade : Serbia Saturday flew Serb Stojan Zupljanin, accused of genocide in the Bosnian 1990s war, to the Netherlands to produce him before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the Tanjug news agency said. The arrest and extradition of war crime suspects is a key requirement for Serbia's further progress to European Union (EU) membership. After Zupljanin, there are three more fugitive suspects - Bosnian Serbs Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic and the Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic.

By Xinhua, Beijing : China's economy expanded by 6.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, official data showed Thursday. The quarterly growth rate was the lowest in 10 years as the global financial crisis continued to affect the world's fastest-growing economy. It was 4.5 percentage points lower than the first quarter of 2008 and down 0.7 percentage points from the previous quarter. Gross domestic product (GDP) reached 6.5745 trillion yuan ($939 billion) in the first quarter, Li Xiaochao, spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said at a press conference.

By SPA, Beijing : At least 21 people were killed and a dozen others hurt Tuesday when a bus and coal truck collided in China's northwest Xinjiang region, a state-run news agency reported. The head-on collision happened on a highway in a remote area, the Xinhua News Agency said. Two vehicles were damaged and three of the 12 injured were in serious condition, Xinhua said.

By IANS/RIA Novosti, Moscow : A total of 675 fishermen stranded on a block of floating ice off Russia's far eastern region were rescued Sunday.

By IANS,

By Xinhua, Wellington : The South Pacific island nation of Samoa has finally decided to establish diplomatic missions in Asia by having embassy offices in China and Japan, Radio New Zealand International reported on Monday. Samoan Prime Minister Tuila epa Sa ilele Malielegaoi announced the government's initiative before parliament passed a new financial year budget, which includes funding for the new diplomatic offices and staff.

By SOA, Colombo : Sri Lankan troops fought toward the shrinking strongholds of the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels on Sunday, the military said, seeking a crushing battlefield victory to end one of Asia's longest insurgent ground wars, reported reuters. The military said it had killed at least 24 rebels after a series of confrontations on Saturday in the small northeastern wedge of jungle which is all that is left of the Tigers' self-proclaimed state.

By EFE, Bogota : A suspected drug trafficker was arrested in the Colombian city of Cali while attending his father-in-law's funeral, the police said. Gennie Alberto Moreno Valencia was arrested Monday on murder, criminal conspiracy, arms possession and other charges. Valencia, 29, was the main individual responsible for "drug trafficking activities and for smuggling large quantities of drugs into Central America and the US", police said.

Abuja: A court in Nigeria has sentenced three Indian nationals to 15 years in prison for oil theft. The convicts -- Ajay Bhatia, Sailesh Kumar...

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

By IANS, Jakarata : At least 15 people were killed and many others wounded after a truck rammed into a house in Indonesia's East Java province Tuesday, Xinhua reported Wednesday.

By IANS, Sydney : Domestic violence may directly hit productivity at the workplace, with one in five victims experiencing continued harassment from their partners.

Gaza City, May 18 (DPA) Three children were among seven Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, while four more four died in internal factional fighting. The children were in their father's car, which belongs to the Rafah municipality, when it was struck by a missile in the latest attack Thursday, witnesses said. The father was outside the vehicle and escaped unharmed. Two bystanders were seriously wounded.

By DPA, Washington : Senator Hillary Clinton, who is battling to keep her head above water in the waning days of the Democratic battle for the presidential nomination, has sent her "heartfelt congratulations to the people of Israel" on the occasion of the country's 60th anniversary. But she warned that the "Jewish state is still not safe". "In every generation, Israel faces serious challenges to its security and threats to its existence," Clinton said in a statement Thursday.

By IANS, Bishkek : At least 12 people were killed and over 100 injured in overnight clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan, a health ministry official said Friday. Armoured vehicles have been sent in to stabilise the situation after hundreds of youths smashed windows, looted shops and set fire to cars in the city. Earlier, the Kyrgyzstan interim government declared a state of emergency in the southern city of Osh due to the turmoil there, Xinhua reported.

By DPA, Amman : Jordan would lodge a protest with Israel over fires that started in Israel last month and spread across the border, damaging a number of citrus farms in the Jordan Valley, the official Petra news agency reported Saturday. "Jordan will lodge a protest with the Israeli Foreign Ministry tomorrow," Petra quoted an official source as saying. The Israeli ambassador in Amman will also be summoned to explain what happened and "give guarantees that it will not happen in future," the official said.

By IRNA London : A parliamentary committee is being urged to investigate the pervasive influence of the Israeli regime's lobby in Britain that have been embedded in the country's major political parties for over 50 years. Secretary of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Charles Ramsden is being asked to examine the variety of so-called "Friends of Israel" groups that are at the centre of the British political establishment and at the very heart of government."

By Xinhua, Los Angeles : Chinese visitors are seeking to buy mortgaged houses impounded for payment default and other bargain property taking advantage of crashing housing prices, a US daily has reported. The trips are part of a broader trend of individuals and businesses in China seeking greater investment opportunities abroad, the Los Angeles Times said. "With housing prices crashing in the United States, home-buying trips to America are becoming one of the more popular tour group packages in China," the paper said.

By IANS Paris : The United Nations (UN) has developed new guidelines to help instructors utilise better Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education, saying it takes more than having a computer for teachers to pass on the skills to students, WAM news agency reported Sunday.

By DPA, Colombo : The military said Saturday that it had killed at least 26 Tamil rebels and lost six soldiers in northern Sri Lanka as it fights to capture the last remaining guerilla-held ground on the island. Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the fighting occurred around Pudukudirrippu and Karaivamulliyakal, 390 km northeast of Colombo. Government troops reached the outer perimeters of a "no-fire zone" meant for civilians in the northeast of the country, which is in the rebel-held area, he said.

By Bernama Manila : A Philippine court on Tuesday sentenced nine former soldiers from 6 to 40 years in jail, after pleading guilty to charges of coup d'etat for a July 2003 mutiny. The Makati Regional Trial Court sentenced Captains Gerardo Gambala and Milo Maestrecampo, who were among the core leaders of the so-called "Oakwood Mutiny", between 20 and 40 years of imprisonment. While seven others were sentenced between 6 and 12 years in jail.

By Prensa Latina, Pyongyang : The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced on Friday it has stopped dismantling nuclear facilities in Nyongbyon given the US refusal to eliminate it from the list of countries supporting terrorism. KCNA agency quoted a foreign ministry's spokesperson as saying efforts are being made to return those facilities to their previous state, as a counter-measure to the White House's negative response.

By SPA Moscow : A Robinson R44 helicopter with two people onboard goes missing on the border of the Khanty-Mansi autonomous district and the Tyumen region, the press service of the Russian emergencies ministry told Itar-Tass on Thursday. “At 18:50 Moscow time on March 4, we received the information that the R44 helicopter owned by AMK Vigas company had not arrived to the Samotlor oil field in the Nizhnevartovsk district,” the source said.

By DPA, Cairo : Egypt will host the next segment of the direct round of Middle East peace talks Sep 14, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Sunday, confirming earlier reports. The talks will take place at the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, Hossam Zaki, the spokesman, said in a statement. Israeli and Palestinian leaders held their first direct peace talks in nearly two years in Washington last week, pledging to reach a peace agreement within a year.

By SPA Dhramsala, India : The Dalai Lama says there should be an international investigation into the crackdown against protests in Tibet, AP reported. The Tibetan spiritual leader says he wants a «respected international organization ... (to) find out what the situation is in Tibet and what is the cause.» Speaking to journalists Sunday in Dharmsala, the base of his government-in-exile in northern India, he said there is a problem in Tibet «whether the (Chinese) government there admits it or not.»

By Arun Kumar, IANS Washington : One-third of Americans want to deny the country's estimated over 12 million illegal immigrants, including some 300,000 Indians, social services like public schooling and emergency room healthcare, a new poll has found. Still a strong bipartisan majority -- 60 percent-favours allowing illegal immigrants, who have not committed crimes to become citizens if they pay fines, learn English and meet other requirements, the Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll noted.

Kampala : Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has sacked Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, a State House statement said here Friday. The statement said Mbabazi has been...

By DPA, Madrid : Spanish police have discovered a drug ring using divers to help bring hashish from Morocco to Spain, police said Thursday, describing the method as unprecedented. The ring transported drug cargoes across the Mediterranean to near Estepona on the southern Spanish coast, then lowered the hashish bundles to a depth of about 20 metres on the sea bed.

By IANS, Colombo : Sri Lanka has opened a page on Chinese social networking site - www.renren.com - to attract more Chinese tourists to the country, an official said Monday.

By AFP London : Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher has been admitted to a London hospital where she is in a "stable" condition, its spokeswoman said Saturday. Thatcher, 82, is expected to spend the night at Saint Thomas' Hospital in central London, to which she was reportedly driven from her home in the capital late Friday for precautionary tests.

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi why beleaguered business tycoon Vijay Mallya was allowed to leave...

By Xinhua London : Britain's top police officer revealed here Tuesday that the number of terrorist plots in Britain is increasing "year on year". Ian Blair, chief of the Metropolitan Police, told the Home Affairs Select Committee that at present there is no need to extend the maximum detention period for terrorism suspects without charge from 28 days, although there will be in the near future, Sky news reported. The chief urged the parliament to find a way to prolong the detention period before an atrocity occurs.

By DPA Paris : Americans and Europeans agree that Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton would make the best US president of the current contenders for the post, according to a poll made public Friday. The survey by the Harris Institute for France 24 television and the Paris-based International Herald Tribune found that enthusiasm for Clinton was significantly higher among Europeans than Americans.

By IANS, London : Elections in Britain's Thirsk and Malton constituency will be the first test for Britain's Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. Polls were postponed following the death of a candidate and will now be held on May 27. Liberal Democrat candidate Howard Keal said he had no qualms in battling his Conservative rival. "This is a gloves-off fight all the way. I have been dismayed at some of the tactics...For us, going into coalition is a huge success and is absolutely to be welcomed," The Independent quoted Keal as saying.