Seven UN peacekeepers, 28 UN civilians killed in 2009
By DPA,
New York: Seven troopers serving in UN peacekeeping operations and at least 28 civilians were killed in 2009 as a result of violent acts, the UN Staff Union said.
Six of the seven peacekeepers were killed in three separate incidents in Sudan's Darfur region, while the seventh death was that of the deputy force commander of the UN mission in Darfur, who was gunned down while on holiday in his country, Pakistan.
Sri Lanka: 28 rebels, 4 soldiers killed
By SPA,
Colombo, Sri Lanka : Infantry combat and a roadside bomb blast in Sri Lanka's restive north and east killed 28 Tamil Tiger rebels and four government soldiers, the military said Wednesday.
Twenty-six rebels and two soldiers died in the heaviest fighting Tuesday in northern Mullaitivu district. Two rebels and a soldier were also killed in Vavuniya district,
the military said in a statement quoted by the Associated Press.
Operation launched to free Afghan district
Kabul: Security forces on Sunday launched an operation to free a district in Afghiantsan's Kunduz province seized by Taliban militants.
On Saturday evening, Taliban militants...
16 killed in South Africa bus collision
By IANS,
Johannesburg: At least 16 people were killed and 27 injured Saturday when a speeding bus collided with another in southern South Africa, Xinhua reported.
Death toll in China mudslide hits 128; rescue continues
By Xinhua,
Taiyuan (China) : The death toll in a mudslide that buried a market and other buildings in northern China's Shanxi province rose to 128 Wednesday, as hundreds of rescuers continued the search for more victims, the provincial rescue headquarters said.
The mudslide occurred Monday morning in Linfen city in Xiangfen county.
D School alumnus named professor at Harvard
By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington: Gita Gopinath, a Delhi School of Economics alumnus, has been named professor of economics at Harvard University, becoming the first Indian-origin woman professor in the institution's history.
Kolkata born Gopinath, 38, is considered an authority on business cycles in emerging markets and on price fluctuations across international borders. She was previously associate professor of economics at Harvard, where she has been a member of the faculty since 2005.
Rajapaksa renews call for rebels to surrender
By Xinhua,
Colombo : Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa Sunday renewed his call for Tamil Tiger rebels to surrender, the state radio announced here.
The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation said Rajapaksa told a political rally Sunday at the central town of Hanguranketha that all facilities would be made available for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres who want to surrender to the government.
"The whole country has united against terrorism and no one will be able to stop the forward march of the troops," the radio quoted the president as saying.
Japanese PM says government responsible for hepatitis infections
By SPA
Tokyo : The Japanese government bears ultimate responsibility for hepatitis C infection caused by tainted blood products, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Monday, according to a news report.
Pharmaceutical matters are the responsibility of the authority that grants permissions for them, and that includes the moral esponsibility. I expect we'll be discussing the matter further in the (ruling) party, Kyodo News agency quoted Fukuda as saying.
Venezuela orders US envoy to leave
By RIA Novosti,
Mexico City : Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has asked the US ambassador to leave the country within 72 hours, in what he called an act of solidarity with neighbour Bolivia in its diplomatic row with US.
Earlier Thursday, Bolivian President Evo Morales expelled Washington's ambassador in La Paz, accusing him of assisting separatist movements in the country.
The United States called the step a "grave error" but responded by expelling Bolivia's ambassador in Washington.
Kadima’s limited edge omens intense political jockeying for Israel’s premiership
By Xinhua,
JERUSALEM : Preliminary results of Israel's general elections released on Wednesday morning showed that the centrist Kadima party won the most seats in the new parliament, but its edge is seen too limited to send its chief Tzipi Livni to the prime minister's office for sure.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni waves to supporters. Livni's Kadima party won a razor-thin victory in the Israeli election Wednesday, gaining one more seat than right-wing rival Likud, according to a final ballot count.
Bolivian wins Mister International 2009 contest
By EFE,
Taipei : Bolivia's Bruno Kettels was crowned Mister International 2009 at a ceremony held in Taichung city in Taiwan.
The 20-year-old Kettels, who studies chemical engineering, beat out Spaniard Hector Soria for the title in the competition final Saturday night. Also in the running in the final were contestants from Lebanon, France and Poland.
Another Latino winning a trophy in this year's competition was Venezuela's Luis Nuzzo, who received the Mister Congeniality award, while the Taiwanese contestant, Terry Shih, took the prize for best traditional outfit.
Bush presents $3.1 trillion budget proposal to Congress
By SPA
Washington : U.S. President George W. Bush and his administration on Monday presented the $3.1 trillion budget proposal for the 2009 fiscal year to the U.S. Congress.
The budget, the first to be available on line on the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) website, is Bush’s last and will also carry over into the upcoming presidency.
The budget seeks to cut about 151 spending programs that are deemed as unnecessary, but has strengthened its focus on financing the ongoing global “war on terror.”
African doctors leave patients behind to find a better life
By DPA
Kampala (Uganda) : Lydia Mungherela left her home country Uganda in 1986 as it was in the throes of war and the burgeoning of a new disease called AIDS - a time the East African nation needed her the most.
The 49-year-old physician loved her country but she packed her bags and left anyway, turning her back on the thousands of people who had no access to a doctor, and hoping to find a new life in South Africa.
But it wasn't the mounting deaths from a new insurgency in the north or the spread of AIDS that forced her from her home.
US troops join search for Nigerian girls
Washington: A total of 16 military personnel from US Africa Command have joined the effort to help find hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by...
’80 percent of LTTE’s fighting capability eliminated’
By IANS,
Colombo : Sri Lankan Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka said "80 percent of the fighting ability" of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been "eliminated" and his advancing troops would soon re-open a main supply route between Colombo and northern Jaffna peninsula.
Olympic dragon: Beijing opens world’s largest air terminal
By DPA
Beijing : A dragon is rising in the Olympic city of Beijing as the world's largest airport terminal is about to open for business at the end of February.
"Everything's going fine and the building will be opened according to plan," an airport spokesman says. From the air, the 3.5-km-long terminal looks like a giant sleeping dragon lying outside the gates of the Chinese capital.
The dragon shape with its characteristic spiky ridges on the golden brown roof was designed by British architect Sir Norman Foster.
Iran to launch two satellites with Russia in 2010
By IANS,
Tehran : Iran is working on a plan to launch two communication satellites with Russia by the end of this year.
During the Moscow visit of Iran's Minister of Telecommunication Reza Taqipour in April, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Taqipour and his Russian counterpart Igor Shchegolev for broader cooperation in the field of telecommunication.
Mohammad Hosseinpour, a senior advisor to Taqipour, told Mehr News Agency Monday that if everything went according to the plan, the two telecommunication satellites would be launched by year-end, Press TV reported.
At least 300 buried in mass graves: Colombian warlord
By IANS
Bogota (Colombia) : Former rightist militia chief Diego Fernando Murillo Bejarano has said here that at least 300 of his men were killed and buried in mass graves in the northwest Colombian province of Antioquia.
Murillo, better known as "Don Berna," was arrested last year after demobilization of more than 31,000 members of his United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), Spanish news agency EFE reported.
Kyrgyzstan wants US out of Manas airbase in 2014
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Bishkek : Kyrgyzstan has reiterated that the US must withdraw all its troops from the Manas airbase in the country when the current lease agreement expires in 2014.
Sri Lankan air force chief escaped bomb blast
By P.K. Balachandran, IANS
Colombo : Sri Lanka's air force chief, Air Marshal Roshan Goonetilleke, narrowly escaped being caught in a bomb blast in the capital Tuesday.
The media Wednesday quoted military officials as saying that the air force commander had passed by the site of the blast in the Fort area of central Colombo, just three minutes before a parcel bomb placed in a roadside public telephone booth went off.
Fitted with a timer, the bomb caused some minor damage to a building nearby. No one was injured.
British family killed in Pakistan
By IANS,
London : Three members of a Pakistani-origin British family, who were on a trip to Pakistan, have been shot dead in what is believed to be honour killing.
Mohammed Yousaf, 51, his wife Parviaz, 49, and their daughter Tania, 21, were killed Thursday when they were on their way to a wedding, The Sun reported Friday.
The killings took place near Pakistan's Jaurah town in Punjab province.
The family, who had been in Britain for the past 30 years, was living in Nelson, Lancs.
LTTE ammunition dump bombed, troops near rebel bastion
By IANS,
Colombo : Sri Lankan jets bombed suspected Tamil Tiger targets, including an ammunition dump, as troops closed in on another key rebel stronghold in the north, the military said Monday.
Air Force spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara said the jets undertook two bombing raids between 7.30 p.m. and 11.00 p.m. Sunday around one kilometre southeast of Palai in support of the ground troops.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) took the hits, the military said.
Top Australian surgeon quits over incompetence claims
By DPA,
Sydney : One of Australia's leading trauma surgeons resigned Friday amid claims that he was incompetent and allegations that he billed the health service for surgeries that never took place, news reports said Friday.
German-born Thomas Kossmann, 48, was suspended in November from his post of director of trauma surgery at the Alfred Hospital and Melbourne's Monash University.
His decision to step down as head of Australia's biggest trauma centre comes after he was criticised by an expert panel set up by the hospital to look at his clinical performance.
Australia’s Rudd appointed to UN panel
By DPA,
Sydney : Australia's Kevin Rudd will serve with other former national leaders on a United Nations panel on global sustainability, the UN said in a statement Tuesday.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the main aim would be to help lift people out of poverty and that the panel should "think big".
The panel includes the former prime ministers of Norway, South Korea, Japan and Mozambique.
Rudd, the first Australian premier to fail to finish a first term, was deposed in June by deputy Julia Gillard.
Modi-Obama summit: A new way of doing things?
By Saroj Mohanty,
Personal relations between leaders have a long tradition in international diplomacy. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi readies to take part in his first summit with US President Barack Obama, pundits and the media have focused a good deal of attention on their encounter, billed as one that would seek to detangle the relationship and reenergize the strategic partnership.
After the quake comes parents’ anger over school collapses
By Till Faehnders, DPA,
Beijing : Mourning has increasingly turned into anger among some of the survivors of this month's earthquake in south-western China.
Hundreds of parents of perished children recently marched through the town of Mianzhu in the afflicted province of Sichuan. They carried photographs and banners decrying the deaths of their children in collapsed schools.
Substandard construction is blamed for the agony of those parents after many of the 7,000 flattened school buildings in the region simply crumbled like houses of cards while thousands of pupils were inside.
UK gov”t names swine flu chief
By KUNA,
LONDON : The British Government has appointed a swine flu senior official for England to deal with the threat of a pandemic it was revealed here Wednesday.
Ian Dalton, currently chief executive of state-funded National Health Service (NHS) in the north-east of England, will become national director for NHS Flu Resilience, the Department of Health said.
He will ensure that the NHS "is in the best possible position to protect the population," health officials added.
US blames BP’s poor decisions for Gulf oil spill
By IANS/EFE,
Washington : Poor management decisions by BP Plc at its Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico were the main causes of last year's disastrous oil spill, US agencies said Wednesday.
Obama signs new Iran sanctions into law
By DPA,
Washington : US President Barack Obama signed a law Thursday imposing tough new sanctions on Iran and making it harder for the Islamic state to fund its nuclear programme.
The sanctions were drawn up and overwhelmingly approved last week by Congress. They expand existing sanctions on Iran's energy and banking sectors and could penalise companies who do business with the Iranian government.
"We are ratcheting up the pressure on the Iranian government for its failure to meet its obligations," Obama said.
Dialogue between Muslim and Christian worlds must: Kazakhstan president
By Sarwar Kashani,IANS,
Astana : The future of the world was at risk if measures for peace and reconciliation between Muslims and Christians were not taken immediately, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev warned here Friday.
Kicking off an international conference on 'Common World, Progress Through Diversity', he stressed the need to jointly stave off threats to world security due to terrorism and the apparent discord between Muslims and other faiths.
The summit is being held in a multi-storeyed pyramid shaped architectural masterpiece called the Palace of Peace and Concord.
Political rift deepens as street rallies drag on in Thailand
By Xinhua,
Beijing : The protracted anti-government rally in Thailand's capital manifests the deepening political rift between pro- and anti-Thaksin camps and may lead to more turmoil if tension continues to heighten, analysts have warned.
The rally led by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) began on May 25 in protest against Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's drive to amend the military-installed constitution.
‘China’s Confucius Institutes popular across the world’
By Xinhua
Beijing : The second Confucius Institute Conference, which aims to promote China's culture and mutual understanding around the world opened here Tuesday with delegates from around the world participating.
"My experience at the conference shows that you can make friends worldwide if you speak Chinese," said Gary Sigley, director of the Confucius Institute of the University of Western Australia, here Tuesday.
China publishes first picture from lunar probe project
By Xinhua
Beijing : China published the first picture of the moon captured by Chang'e-1 Monday morning, marking the success of the country's first lunar probe project.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao unveiled the framed black-and-white photo at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC). The image showed a rough moon surface with scattered round craters both big and small.
The area covered by the picture, about 460 km in length and 280 km in width, is located within a 54 to 70 degrees south latitude and 57 to 83 degrees east longitude, according to BACC sources.
Myanmar Referendum A Sham, Says Human Rights Watch
By Bernama,
Bangkok : The May 10 Myanmar referendum on a new constitution is a sham process aimed at entrenching the military as conditions for free and fair voting do not exist, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report released Thursday.
Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW, said the country's ruling generals were showing their true colours by continuing to arrest anyone opposed to the referendum and denying the population the right to a public discussion of the merits of the draft constitution.
Italian envoy to South Africa killed in accident
By Xinhua,
Johannesburg : Italy's ambassador to South Africa Alessandro Cevese was killed in a road accident in the northern province of Limpopo, a media report said.
Cevese was part of a hunting team and was travelling in an open vehicle early Saturday when the accident took place.
The vehicle veered off the road and overturned when the driver tried to avoid an eland (an antelope) that crossed its path, the South African Press Association (SAPA) quoted police spokesperson Ronel Otto as saying.
Cevese died on the spot. The Limpopo police have opened a culpable homicide inquest.
President Putin dismisses Russian government
By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted Wednesday a request from Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov to dismiss the government and form a new cabinet.
The president thanked Fradkov for his service as prime minister, and asked him to stay on as acting premier until the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, votes in a new candidate.
Nepal bans its women from working as domestic maids in Gulf
By IANS,
Dubai : Nepal has banned its women from taking up jobs as domestic maids in the Gulf countries and Malaysia.
Following reports of women from Nepal being brought illegally to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Malaysia, the Nepal government has issued an order formally banning the recruitment of women from Nepal as domestic maids in the region and that southeast Asian nation, the Gulf Times reported.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) comprise the GCC.
60 mn Asians below poverty line due to recession: Official
By DPA,
Singapore : The president of the Asian Development Bank warned Monday that the global economic downturn might lead to a significant increase of poverty in Asia.
"Instead of breaking out from poverty, we expect that more than 60 million people in developing Asia... will remain below the $1.25 a day absolute poverty line in 2009, as a result of the global recession," Haruhiko Kuroda said in Singapore.
"The slowdown is impacting people's lives, especially the poor," he added.
Virtual Community Mobilizes, Mourns For Quake Victims
By Bernama,
Beijing : Whether distributing appeals for on-line donations, uploading images of quake-hit towns or asking for help in extracting someone from the rubble, Chinese netizens are fully engaged in relief from the deadly earthquake, said China's Xinhua news agency.
Zhu Dake celebrated on his blog when his friend, the horror fiction author Li Ximin, was saved after being trapped for more than three days under a collapsed guest house at a remote village in Pengzhou County, Sichuan Province.
Gaza militants fire 3 mortar shells into S Israel
By Xinhua,
JERUSALEM : Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip Wednesday fired three mortar shells into the western Negev in southern Israel, Israel Army Radio reported.
The shells exploded in the Sha'ar Hanegev region, causing neither casualties nor damage, said the report.
Over the last weekend, the Israel Air Force bombed five tunnel systems used for smuggling arms and other goods from Egypt into Gaza, as a response to renewed rocket and mortar fire from the coastal enclave into Israel.
Rights group condemns abuse of lawyers in China
By DPA,
Beijing : Chinese lawyers who take briefs which are considered politically sensitive by the regime are subject to threats and actual physical assault, according to a report released Tuesday by US-based rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW).
"Lawyers who challenge official abuses in China systematically suffer retaliation," Sophie Richardson, HRW's Asia advocacy director.
Croatia pledges to help fellow Western Balkan countries on path to EU
By Xinhua
Belgrade : Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic said on Saturday that his country is willing to assist fellow Western Balkan countries on their path to EU membership by offering them its experience and advice.
"Croatia is ready to help with its experience, advice and expertise. It has been and remains our policy," Jandrokovic told a press conference after an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers with their counterparts from Western Balkan countries in the Slovenian resort of Brdo in suburban Ljubljana.
North Korea says it is in final phase of uranium enrichment
By DPA,
Seoul : North Korea said Friday that it was entering the final testing phase of uranium enrichment, which could give it a second way to produce nuclear weapons.
It also said that it was reprocessing plutonium for atomic weapons from spent fuel rods, a process believed to have produced the fuel for its two nuclear tests.
DPRK spokesman: DPRK-U.S. negotiations prove successful
By Xinhua,
Pyongyang : The negotiations between nuclear experts of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States were successful, a spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
The U.S. delegation headed by Sung Kim, head of the Office of Korean Affairs under the State Department, paid a two-day visit to Pyongyang on Tuesday and Wednesday.
They discussed the details on the disablement of the DPRK nuclear facilities with the DPRK officials, the official news agency KCNA quoted the spokesman as saying.
At least five killed in car pileups in US
By Xinhua
Washington : At least five people were killed and dozens injured in car accidents in central US after a severe snowstorm hit the region Saturday.
The snowstorm was blamed for numerous car pileups on highways that killed three people in Minnesota, one in Kansas and one in Texas. Stretches of several major highways were closed.
More than 50 vehicles piled up as snow and fog reduced visibility to practically nil in Texas. At least 18 people were injured, and two of them were in critical condition, the police said.
Nuclear fusion power could solve world’s energy crisis
By IANS,
Sydney : Imagine if you could generate power using nuclear power minus radioactivity - it would be the answer to the dream of finding a clean, sustainable energy source.
That is the hope raised by researchers who believe they have found a radical new path to the ultimate goal of solving the world's energy crisis through nuclear fusion power.
Myanmar’s largest airport to be upgraded
By IANS,
Yangon: Myanmar's largest Mandalay International Airport will be upgraded, a media report said Saturday.
US media sees Modi ‘brought down to earth’
By Arun Kumar,
Washington: While US officials refrained from comment on Aam Aadmi Party's massive victory in Delhi elections, the New York Times saw "A...
No evidence of so-called Islamic radicalism at UK universities
By IRNA,
London : British Universities are not hotbeds of Islamic radicalism as alleged by the government, according to a new study published Wednesday.
The study carried out by Cambridge University found little evidence of any threat. Most Muslim students expressed more concerned about human rights, particularly in Islamic countries.
Young Muslims were described as being better integrated into British society than their parents, with a stronger sense of national identity. They were said to be more like to join Amnesty International than al-Qaeda.
Nepali constituent assembly election court formed
By Xinhua
Kathmandu : Nepali cabinet has formed the Constitutional Court to hear disputes and complaints regarding the election, local leading media group's website Nepalnews.com reported Monday.
The Constitutional Court was formed on Sunday as per the recommendation by the Judicial Council and the special act passed by the Nepali parliament.
Anup Raj Sharma, a Supreme Court judge will head the court. The court will include two members, Tapa Bahadur Magar and Ram Kumar Prasad Shah, both of whom are judges at the apex court.
Foreigners involved in 20 percent of Moscow murders
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Foreign nationals are responsible for some 20 percent of the murders and half of the rapes registered in Moscow this year, the Russian capital's prosecutor has said.
Shipping firm to sue Philippine weather agency for mishap
By Xinhua,
Manila : The owner of a Philippine ferry that sank in the devastating Typhoon Fengshen with more than 800 people on board said Friday he would sue the country's weather agency for not giving timely information about the typhoon.
According to Philippine TV network GMA News, shipping company Sulpicio Lines, which owned the sunken ship MV Princess of the Stars, said it would charge the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) next week for failing to update the ship's crew about the movement of Typhoon Fengshen.
Aso poised to win ruling LDP presidential election
By Xinhua,
Tokyo : Taro Aso, secretary general of the ruling Liberal democratic Party (LDP), is almost certain to win the LDP presidential election scheduled to be held later Monday.
Aso, who served as the foreign minister in Junichiro Koizumi's cabinet as well as in the subsequent Shinzo Abe's cabinet, has maintained a convenient lead during the election campaigns, gaining the support of some 60 percent of LDP lawmakers and more than 80 of the prefectural chapter representatives, local media reported.
Cambodia to host Miss Landmine amputee beauty pageant
By DPA,
Phnom Penh : Cambodia will play host to Miss Landmine 2009, the controversial beauty pageant's Norwegian organiser said Sunday.
Miss Landmine parades beautiful female landmine victim amputees on the catwalk as they compete to win prosthetic limbs.
Miss Landmine Angola 2008 was crowned the event's inaugural winner this month, and the pageant's founder, artist Morten Traavik, says he has his heart set on Cambodia as Miss Landmine's next stop.
"We are in principle all set up and ready to go, we already have candidates in place," he said by email.
Obama extends drilling halt as top-kill stops oil leak
By DPA,
Washington : US President Barack Obama extended a moratorium on new deepwater offshore drilling Thursday as oil giant BP's critical top-kill operation had likely temporarily stopped an oil leak that has already created the worst oil spill in US history.
Japanese PM resigns amid plunging approval ratings
By DPA,
Tokyo : Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama announced Wednesday that he would step down after eight months in office as his party prepares for a July election amid a steady decline in approval ratings for his government.
The plunge in support for his cabinet came after he reneged on a campaign promise to move a US military base from Okinawa. Hatoyama also faced mounting calls to resign from within his own Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).
Water treatment plant poisoning Canadian river
BY IANS,
Toronto : A water treatment plant in Montreal is dumping 90 times the permissible critical limits of certain estrogen products into the river.
These are the findings of Liza Viglino, a post-doctoral student at the University of Montreal's department of chemistry, under the supervision of professors Sebastien Sauve and Michele Prevost.
52,000 flee rebel-held area as LTTE ignores surrender deadline
By IANS,
Colombo : Men, women and children, some sick and some too old to even walk... It was a mass exodus from the Tamil Tigers held area in Sri Lanka's north with an estimated 52,000 people fleeing with whatever they could carry as the rebels failed Tuesday to meet Colombo's 24 hour deadline to surrender and troops forced their way into the no-fire-zone.
Television reports showed thousands of civilians fleeing the rebel held area, a mass exodus that began Monday.
Arbitration court for Asian state disputes in Singapore
By DPA
Singapore : A Netherlands-based international arbitration court is setting up its first Asian centre in Singapore to resolve disputes between countries in the region, news reports said Tuesday.
Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar and the secretary general of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), Tjaco van den Hout, signed an agreement to establish the facility, the fifth of its kind in the world.
S Korean ambassador protests over Japan’s claim of disputed islets
By Xinhua,
Tokyo : South Korean Ambassador to Japan Kwon Chul Hyun protested Tuesday morning over Japan's claim of ownership of two disputed islets during meeting with Japanese foreign ministry officials.
Kwon, who is scheduled to leave Japan later in the day at the South Korean government's recall in protest, met with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka for about 40 minutes at the Foreign Ministry.
Sikh youth denied entry into US nightclubs
By IANS
New York : A Sikh youth has approached the US justice department after he was allegedly denied entry into two nightclubs in California because he was wearing a turban.
Dave Bindra, a student at Carlsbad's Gemological Institute of America, went to the nightclubs July 27 but wasn't let in because they have rules against turbans and other head wear. Bindra claimed that one of the club managers told him it didn't matter that the turban was a religious headgear.
Recreating planetary sounds from Mars, Venus
By IANS,
London : Scientists have for the first time recreated the sound of lightning and whirlwinds from Mars and Venus and also how we would hear human voices on their surface.
Ukraine’s PM says Naftogaz to buy natural gas on Russian soil
By RIA Novosti,
Kiev : Under a new scheme for Russia-Ukraine natural gas trade, Ukraine's state-owned oil and gas company will buy gas on Russian territory from trader RosUkrEnergo, the Ukrainian prime minister said Monday.
Swiss-registered RosUkrEnergo, half owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom, is bound by a contract on 2008 natural gas supplies to Ukraine.
Hanover Fair highlights Japanese robots and sumo
By Yuriko Wahl, DPA,
Hanover (Germany) : Innovations from Japan, including robots and a virtual power station, are to have pride of place at the Hanover Fair in Germany next week alongside sumo wrestlers and traditional taiko drummers.
The April 21-25 fair has appointed high-tech Japan this year as partner nation. The annual fair, with 5,100 companies from 62 nations exhibiting, is a major venue for showing heavy industrial equipment.
Australia gives 1.5M AUD for flood relief in Africa
By NNN-Bernama
Melbourne : The Australian government will contribute 1.5 million Australian dollars (one USD= about 1.15 AUD) towards relief efforts in parts of Africa which have been devastated by floods.
The Red Cross has warned that a massive aid effort is needed to cope with floods in 18 countries across Africa which have affected at least 1.5 million people and killed almost 300.
Nepal nod for Reliance, Satluj to invest billions of rupees
Kathmandu: The Nepal Investment Board headed by Prime Minister Sushil Koirala has given its nod to two prominent Indian groups to invest billions of...
China behind cyberattacks on US firms: Report
By IANS/EFE,
Beijing : The Chinese army is behind a series of cyberattacks on US companies and institutions, according to a study by a US computer security company.
US to expand military ties with Poland, Baltic states
Washington: The US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said here Wednesday that the US plans to expand military cooperation with Poland and Baltic states to...
2013 is year of growth: Italian PM
By IANS,
Rome : Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said Monday that 2013 will be "a year of growth" for the recession-hit country.
Five killed in standoff with police in Los Angles
By Xinhua
Los Angeles : Five people were killed in a standoff between police and a gunman in Los Angeles, police said on Thursday.
The standoff began overnight in a house in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, according to police. A man barricaded himself in a house and opened fire on a police team.
The man had killed three of his relatives before police arrived.
During the standoff, a policeman and the gunman were killed, and two other officers suffered minor injuries, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief William Bratton said.
Myanmar outlines three phases of restoration work after disaster
By Xinhua,
Yangon : Myanmar has outlined three phases of restoration work plan after being deadly hit by a tropical cyclone Nargis and called for implementation of the plan with internal and international assistance, according to Wednesday's official newspaper New Light of Myanmar.
Three policemen held for aiding rebels in Sri Lanka
By Xinhua,
Colombo : Three policemen were arrested Sunday for aiding Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka, officials said.
"They have extorted money and terrorised people to embarrass the government," police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekere told reporters. The three policemen had assisted the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), he said.
The Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) picked them up from different places and the investigation was going on, he added.
New catalysts promise faster, cleaner research platform
By IANS,
Washington : A new class of exceptionally effective catalysts have been isolated by a team of Boston College and MIT scientists, opening up a vast new scientific platform to researchers in medicine, biology and materials.
The new catalysts can be easily prepared and possess unique features never before utilised by chemists, according to findings from a team led by Amir H Hoveyda, professor at Boston College and MIT professor and Nobel laureate Richard Schrock, who shared the 2005 prize in Chemistry for early discoveries of catalytic olefin metathesis.
Kremlin appoints 200 new guards
By IANS,
Moscow : About 200 Kremlin guard recruits took the oath of allegiance at the WWII memorial hill in Moscow Saturday, a defence ministry spokesman said.
Nepal’s PM urges people to donate blood
Kathmandu : Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala on Sunday urged the people to donate blood in the wake of the devastating earthquake that has...
Firefox claims billion downloads
By DPA,
San Francisco: Internet surfers have downloaded the open source Firefox browser more than one billion times, the software's distributor, the Mozilla Foundation, said Friday.
The browser is the strongest current rival to Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which once controlled over 90 percent of the browser market but has seen its dominance steadily eroded by Firefox.
Firefox now accounts for some 22.5 percent of all active browsers, compared to Microsoft's 65 per cent share, according to the tracking firm Net Applications.
Sri Lanka Prepares SAARC Summit
By Prensa Latina,
Colombo : The activities for the Fifteenth Summit of South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation have begun here Monday with meetings of Vice Ministers and experts.
With the slogan "Our Peoples's Assopciation" the conference gathered eight regional countries' presidents together to analyze common programs aimed at fighting terrorism, poverty and climate change.
They will also discuss formulas to alleviate energy and inflationary crisis and water availability.
Three killed in southern Philippines clash
By DPA
Manila : Two communist rebels and one soldier were killed in a clash in the southern Philippines, an army commander said Monday.
Colonel Jose Vizcara said the fighting erupted when some 60 guerrillas attacked Sunday an army encampment in the outskirt of Carmen town in Surigao del Sur province, 750 km south of Manila.
Vizcara added the rebels used civilians as shields in their escape towards the jungle.
Communist rebels have been fighting the government since the late 1960s, making the movement one of the longest-running leftist insurgencies in Asia.
Republican former senator Thompson drops US presidential bid
WASHINGTON, Jan 22 (KUNA) -- Former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson, a Republican and former "Law and Order" TV actor, dropped out of the U.S. presidential campaign on Tuesday.
Russia has no plans to ‘slam door’ on NATO: Lavrov
By DPA,
Moscow : Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday Russia had no plans to "slam the door" on NATO amid a rift with the alliance this week over Russia's military occupation of Georgia.
"Russia, no less than NATO, relies on this mutual cooperation... NATO is much more in need of Russia's support of its military actions in Afghanistan, where NATO's fate appears to be in the balance," Lavrov was quoted by news agency Interfax as saying in Sochi.
"We are not going to slam the door on NATO," Lavrov said.
Somalia seeks India’s help to quell piracy
By IANS,
New Delhi : In recognition of India's proactive role in combating piracy in the Gulf of Aden, the Transitional Federation Government (TFG) of Somalia has given the nod to the Indian Navy entering its territorial waters to “suppress” the scourge of piracy as mandated under international law, a naval official said here Friday.
Study to predict species likely to become extinct
By IANS,
Sydney : A new ecological study will help identify species likely to become extinct under environmental changes or those likely to become a pest.
Researchers analysed more than 8,900 legume species, or fabaceae, a plant family, and found a correlation between its traits and its susceptibility to threats or invasiveness.
“The urgency and scale of the global biodiversity crisis means we need good predictors of a species' likelihood of going extinct or becoming invasive in non-native areas,” said Corey Bradshaw of the University of Adelaide, who led the study.
Revolutionary dressing heals wound
By IANS,
Washington : People with 70 percent burns die from related and secondary infections despite the best efforts of doctors and nurses and advances in medicine. But a revolutionary dressing developed at Tel Aviv University (TAU) eradicates infection by killing bacteria and preventing deaths in burn injuries.
Meital Zilberman, TAU professor in biomedical engineering, has developed a new wound dressing based on fibres which can be loaded with antibiotics to speed up healing, and then dissolve when they've done their job.
Europe reports over 300 new swine flu cases
By Xinhua,
Stockholm : European health officials Saturday reported 311 new swine flu cases in the region.
Of the new cases, 279 were confirmed in Italy, 26 in Switzerland, five in Slovakia and one in Slovenia, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in its latest report.
Steinmeier defends talks with Syria amid criticism from Merkel party
By IRNA
Berlin : German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier defended the recent meeting with his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Moallem in Berlin amid ongoing criticism by leading members of the co-ruling Christian Democratic Union which is headed by Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Talking with the daily Berliner Zeitung newspaper, Steinmeier stressed a "self-imposed ban on speaking" in dealing with complex governments was not helpful.
$400-mn World Bank loan for India’s small, medium enterprises
By IANS,
Washington : The World Bank has approved a $400 million additional financing loan to the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), designed to improve access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
This additional financing will help scale up the fully disbursed original project which the World Bank had approved in November 2004, the bank announced Thursday.
Backed by a guarantee from India, the loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a 15-year maturity that includes a five-year grace period.
Venezuela in no haste for talks with new US leadership
By IANS,
Caracas : Venezuela has said it is in no hurry to arrange a meeting between President Hugo Chavez and US president-elect Barack Obama, whose election has been hailed in Latin America as the harbinger of a new era of US-South America relationship.
"To everything there is a season, its (own) speed, and one must not be tempted to speculate. We'll wait," EFE Friday quoted Nicolas Maduro as telling reporters.
Maduro was reacting to a statement by the nation's foreign relation committee chief that the expected meeting could take place before long.
Nepal Extends Government Period
By Prensa Latina,
Kathmandu : The four main Nepalese parties demanded the executive to extend the creation of a national consensus government for three more days, aimed at defining negotiations.
The Maoist Communist Party (CPN-M), the Nepali Congress (NC) and Marxist Leninist Unified Communist Party (CPN-UML) have held a crucial meeting Tuesday in which they analyzed the Maoist consensus proposal.
The NC spokesman Arjun Narsingh Kharri Chhetri stated that in Monday's night previous meeting the four parties agreed to form a coalition administration led by Maoists.
Italy campaigns for Unesco recognition to Mediterranean diet
By Xinhua
Rome : Italy is to spearhead an international campaign to win Unesco recognition for the Mediterranean diet, Italian Agriculture Minister Paolo De Castro has announced.
Italy would team up with Spain, Greece and Morocco to ask the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) to add the diet to its World Heritage List, according to Italian News Agency ANSA.
"The Mediterranean diet is a heritage that should be protected and shared," De Castro said Tuesday.
Volvo Car to cut 1,000 jobs
By IANS,
Stockholm : Volvo Car Company announced that it will lay off 1,000 employees by the end of this year to help implement its saving plan of 1.5 billion Swedish kronor ($238 million).
Women banned from wearing mini-skirts to work
By IANS,
London: Women in Britain's offices have been banned from wearing mini-skirts to work, and people involved in "customer-facing roles" have been told to look more professional "in a way that shows respect to children and families".
Around 400 staff in Southampton City Council's children's services department received a memo telling them they should dress respectfully and "carefully consider their work attire", the Daily Mail reported.
Spy thriller: US picks up 10 Russian agents
By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : Less than a week after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and President Barack Obama signalled the end of the Cold War with a burger lunch in Washington, the United States picked up ten people on charges of working as Russian spies. The arrests Sunday capped an almost surreal investigation that extended to the Clinton administration and involved video surveillance, hidden microphones and surreptitious FBI searches of homes along the East Coast.
Plane crashes in Jamaica, 40 hurt
By IANS,
Havana : A Boeing-737 of the American Airlines crashed Tuesday night while landing at the international airport at Kingston, Jamaica, leaving 40 passengers injured, reports from Kingston said.
"There are no reports of fatalities," Information Minister Daryl Vaz told local media, adding the injured have been sent to hospitals.
The plane, flying from Miami, broke in two after landing at Kingston, Xinhua reported.
21st Indian jailed for Singapore riots
Singapore : An Indian was Tuesday jailed for 14 months for his involvement in the Dec 8, 2013, riots here.
Chinnathambi Malesan, 23, a worker,...
Recalcitrant Bavarians fight pub smoking ban
By Sabine Dobel, DPA,
Munich : Bavaria's anti-smoking legislation was intended as the toughest in all of Germany when it was introduced at the beginning of the year, but putting it into effect has produced paradoxical results.
Pubs across the country's largest state have sidestepped the law by reconstituting themselves as "smokers' clubs".
Munich administrative official Wilfried Blume-Beyerle has called on Environment Minister Otmar Bernhard to find a way to ban these "associations for evading the law", as he calls them.
European shares down; pharmaceuticals, oil fall
By SPA,
London : European share prices were down at midday on Wednesday as investors turned their attention back to the economy after Barack Obama's victory in the U.S.
presidential election, with pharmaceutical and oil stocks the main drags on the index, according to Reuters.
By 1131 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares was down 1.8 percent at 956.59, breaking six straight days of gains.
Sushma, Kerry to hold first ministerial meet of India-US strategic dialogue
New Delhi : Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to America, India and the US are to hold the first ministerial meeting of...
US top civilian honour for Aung San Suu Kyi
By IANS
Washington : The US House of Representatives has passed a resolution to award Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award in America.
Supporters of the legislation, which passed 400-0, made clear the award was meant to send a message to the military leaders in Myanmar, who have suppressed political freedoms in that country and stampeded the recent pro-democracy protests.
Victory rally as Indian priests return to Pashupatinath temple
By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,
Kathmandu : Hundreds of people cried and sang in jubilation Thursday as Hindu devotees began a victory march to celebrate the return of Indian priests to Nepal's 17th century Pashupatinath temple and the pledge by the humbled Maoist government not to interfere in its management.
US, Europe, Japan, pursuing new anti-piracy deal
By DPA
Washington : The US, European Union and Japan are pursuing a 34-country agreement targeting worldwide piracy of copyrighted goods and counterfeiting.
The agreement, which has been pursued for more than a year outside the World Trade Organisation framework, represents a major step in the fight against theft of intellectual property rights, said US Trade Representative Susan Schwab at a press conference in Capitol Hill Tuesday.
Kenya to declare national emergency over food crisis
By Xinhua,
Nairobi : The Kenyan government plans to declare a national emergency over the prevailing drought and famine situation in the country that has rendered nearly ten million people food insecure.
The ten million include 1.5 million children under the school feeding programme, 2.5 million people suffering from various diseases including HIV/AIDS and orphans and another 2.5 million under the category of urban poor.
One killed in railway station stampede in China
By Xinhua
Beijing : A stampede at Guangzhou railway station in south China's Guangdong province left one person dead as passengers stranded in heavy snow rushed to board trains after days of waiting.
Continuous snow since mid-January, the worst in 50 years in central, eastern and southern China, has held up millions of people eager to return home for Spring Festival, a traditional festival of family reunion.
Nearly one million people holding train tickets were still stranded in Guangzhou, the spokesman of the railway ministry said Sunday.
Clinton offers condolences to quake-hit China
By IANS,
Washington : US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has offered condolences to the families of the victims killed in a devastating earthquake in northwest China, Xinhua reported.
"On behalf of the American people, I offer sincere condolences to the families who lost loved ones in this morning's earthquake in China's Qinghai province," Clinton said in a statement Wednesday.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with those injured or displaced, and all the people of China on this difficult day. The US stands ready to assist," she said.
North Korea threatens South Korea with ‘holy war’
By DPA,
Seoul : North Korea Friday threatened to cut off all dialogue with South Korea following reports that Seoul had revised a contingency plan to deal with the potential collapse of Pyongyang's Stalinist regime.
In a statement released by its state-run media, North Korea's National Defence Commission vowed to wage a "pan-national holy war of retaliation" to blow away the South Korean government.
Putin is Russian prime minister
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russia's lower house of parliament or the State Duma Thursday approved Vladimir Putin as prime minister, a day after he stepped down as president following eight years as head of state.
Putin was overwhelmingly approved as premier by 392 votes to 56.
The outcome of the vote was widely expected as the ruling pro-Kremlin United Russia party holds a two-thirds majority in the State Duma.
The Russian Communist Party voted against Putin.
War jets pound LTTE targets to support advancing troops
BY IANS,
Colombo : Sri Lankan Air Force ground attack fighter jets carried out three air raids Tuesday "targeting LTTE resistance points" in the country's north in support of advancing government troops, who are facing heavy resistance from the Tamil Tiger rebels.
Air Force spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara said that all three targets were located in the battlefront west of Kilinochchi, the political and administrative "capital" of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
New Yorker charged with hate crime against Sikh
By IANS
New York : A man has been charged with a hate crime for attacking a Sikh worshipper near a gurdwara in Queens area here.
David Wood, 36, allegedly approached Baljeet Singh, 63, on Jan 14, screaming: "Arab, go back to your country", and beat him up as Singh parked his car outside the gurdwara.
Wood, who lives near the gurdwara, was charged with second-degree assault as a hate crime, second and third degree assault and second-degree aggravated harassment.
Russia to safeguard its interests outside military blocs – Ivanov
By RIA Novosti
Munich : Russia will safeguard its national interests without creating any military blocs, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Sunday.
Ivanov who spoke at an international conference on security in Munich said that Russia had opted for developing multi-vector cooperation with different countries of the world, instead of creating any military blocs or becoming involved in open confrontation with its opponents,.
Coroner’s report on Michael Jackson’s death delayed
By DPA,
Los Angeles: The coroner's report into the death of Michael Jackson has been delayed for another two weeks as speculation continues to swirl about the cause of the megastar's June 25 death, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said Friday.
Prior to the announcement, the coroner had been expected to issue the report at the beginning of next week. Initial comments by officials indicated that Jackson had died from cardiac arrest, possibly caused by an addiction to prescription painkillers.
Elderly Indian found dead in Australia
By IANS,
Melbourne : A 61-year-old Indian man was found dead with stab injuries in Australia, police said Monday.
The man, who had been living in Doncaster for some time, was found dead next to a parkland in the Koonung Creek reserve, near Estelle Street, Bulleen, about 10.50 a.m. Sunday, head of homicide, Bernie Edwards, was quoted as saying by The Age.
He said the deceased, father of two, lived on the other side of the bridge, which crosses the Eastern Freeway.
Man uses 18-month-old son as guarantee on debt payment
By RIA Novosti,
Kemerovo (Russia) : The police in Siberia are searching for a man who gave a moneylender his 18-month-old child as a guarantee for debt repayment, an official said Friday.
The police were called to the village of Yasnaya Polyana in the south of the Kemerovo Region to check reports of an unidentified child who appeared in one of the families.
They determined that the family had received the child as a "guarantee" that a debt would be repaid.
Singaporean jailed for inciting violence online
By IANS,
Singapore : A 36-year-old Singaporean man was Friday sentenced to two months in jail for an online post meant to incite violence, Xinhua reported.
Nepal: Constituent Assembly polls at a glance
By IANS
Kathmandu : Nepalese elections at a glance:
1769: Gorkha king Prithvi Narayan Shah overruns other principalities and founds the Shah dynasty of rulers of a 'unified' Nepal.
1951: King Tribhuvan, present king Gyanendra's grandfather, pledges to hold a constituent assembly election but never keeps his promise.
1955: Tribhuvan's son Mahendra becomes king and begins consolidating power.
1959: Mahendra holds first general election.
1960: The king sacks the first elected government of B.P. Koirala. Mahendra bans political parties and begins absolute rule.
Search on for happiest person in Singapore
By DPA
Singapore : The search is on for the happiest person in Singapore following a recent survey that found nine in 10 people feel life is stressful and they need more fun, news reports said Thursday.
Led by Philip Merry, chief executive and founder of the Global Leadership Academy, the hunt will last until March 30.
Singaporeans can nominate anyone they know over the age of 18. He or she must contribute to society and be happy "no matter what life throws at them", The Straits Times quoted Merry, 58, as saying.
Another Obama nominee withdraws cabinet nomination
By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : Tax troubles Tuesday forced former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle to withdraw his nomination as President Barack Obama's health secretary giving a setback to his efforts to quickly forge his cabinet to take forward his agenda of change.
In a statement Dascchle, who had been fighting to save his nomination following controversy over his tax records and questions over his work in a field that some consider lobbying, said he did not want payment of $140,000 in back taxes to be a distraction.
Two die of carbon monoxide poisoning in Greece
By IANS,
Athens : Two students of a Greek university have died of carbon monoxide poisoning and three of their classmates went into coma in the central city of Larissa, officials said Friday.
Nazi-era mass grave found at Austrian army base
By DPA,
Vienna: Excavations at a newly identified Nazi-era mass grave are set to start soon at an Austrian army base, Defence Minister said Wednesday.
Historians have concluded that some 80 Hungarian Jews, resistance fighters, US war prisoners and others murdered by Hitler's SS forces were likely buried at the base in Graz.
"This is about the victim's families, and we will not rest until everything is cleared up," Minister Norbert Darabos said.
Venezuela launches satellite
By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Mexico City: Venezuela launched its second ever satellite into space Saturday, according to the Venezuelan media.
Over 13,000 civilians flee LTTE-held areas, 17 die in blast
By P. Karunakharan,IANS,
Colombo : Over 13,000 civilians Monday fled Sri Lanka's northern war-zone while 17 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack by the Tamil Tigers, authorities said.
"The operation to rescue civilians was launched last (Sunday) night amid stiff LTTE resistance. With the troops capturing a three-km-long LTTE earth-bund at Puthumathalan area, over 13,000 thousand people have crossed to the government-held area till this (Monday) morning," military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said here.
750,000 people may die in East African famine: UN
By IANS,
London : About 750,000 people could die in East Africa over the next four months due to famine, if enough aid didn't reach the famine-stricken region, the UN has warned.
Flights bound for Bangkok canceled due to protest
By Xinhua,
Tokyo : Flights bound for Bangkok from Japan were mostly canceled or returned to Japan on Wednesday as protestors forced the Thai capital's Suvarnabhumi International Airport to shut down.
Thai Airways International canceled a total of six flights to Bangkok from Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka, while Japan Airlines also canceled all its five flights from Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.
Sardar candidate for FIH Athletes’ Committee elections
Lausanne:India captain Sardar Singh is among the 15 male candidates for the Athletes' Committee elections of the international hockey federation (FIH).
A total of six...
Asia greets Obama victory with jubilation, hope
By DPA,
Tokyo : American expats and other supporters of Barack Obama cheered and danced in the streets of Asian and Pacific countries early Wednesday as word spread of their candidate's stunning presidential election victory.
People in the small north-central Japanese town of Obama danced through the night and into Wednesday morning in anticipation of the community's namesake being elected US president.
The local dancing group the Obama Boys practiced their hula dancing, in a nod to the president-elect's childhood home in the Hawaiian Islands.
Nine killed in China kindergarten attack
By IANS,
Beijing : Seven children and two adults at a kindergarten were hacked to death Wednesday while 11 students sustained injuries in a frenzied attack in China's Shaanxi province. The attacker later committed suicide.
A 48-year-old villager, identified as Wu Huanming, hacked to death five boys, two girls and the kindergarten owner-cum-teacher, Wu Hongying, using a kitchen meat knife at around 8 a.m. local time Wednesday at a privately-run kindergarten in Linchang village in Nanzheng County, Xinhua quoted officials of the Shaanxi Provincial Emergency Response Office as saying.
Non-crew members were in cockpit of crashed Polish plane
By IANS,
Moscow : Non-crew members were in the cockpit of the Polish presidential plane that crashed in April near the western Russian city of Smolensk, killing everyone on board, the head of the Interstate Aviation Committee said Wednesday.
"It was proven that non-crew members were in the cockpit," Tatyana Anodina said.
She said the voice of one person was identified while the others are being identified by Polish officials.
Anodina did not specify the number of people in the cockpit or their identities.
Intelligent cars to send automated emergency call in accidents
By DPA
Hamburg : The European Union is introducing an automated emergency call system for all new cars that could save about 2,500 lives each year, but sceptics argue that the system is too expensive and could be abused for vehicle tracking purposes.
All new cars registered in Europe will have to be equipped with the eCall system from 2009. Some manufacturers, notably Volvo, are already installing the system in current models.
Tibetan spiritual leader rescued in Himachal Pradesh
By IANS,
Dharamsala : Tibetan spiritual leader Karmapa Ugyen Trinley Dorjee and his 13 followers, who were stranded in Himachal Pradesh's Lahaul and Spiti district for 48 hours due to heavy snowfall, were rescued Sunday, an official said.
"The 17th Karmapa and his 13 followers were rescued this (Sunday) afternoon from Baralacha pass in Lahaul and Spiti district," Mandi's Divisional Commissioner Ashwani Kumar told IANS.
The Baralacha pass is located at a height of 4,883 metres on the 475-km-long Manali-Leh highway.
Sri Lanka accuses US of human rights abuses
By IANS,
Colombo : Days before a US-sponsored resolution will be taken up against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council, Colombo accused Washington of committing human rights abuses.
U.S. to assist Philippines in ferry disaster rescue
By RIA Novosti,
Jakarta : The U.S. Navy has sent a ship to assist in a search for survivors in central Philippines where a ferry carrying over 860 people sank during a typhoon, the national PNA news agency said on Monday.
The Japanese-based vessel carrying rescue helicopters is expected to arrive at the disaster scene either on Monday or early Tuesday.
The MV Princess of Stars ran aground and sank two days ago en route from the capital Manila to Cebu in the central Philippines with 862 people onboard, including 45 children and 121 crew members.
US ‘deeply concerned’ over Thailand-Cambodia border clashes
By IANS,
Washington : The US remains "deeply concerned" about the clashes between security forces along the Thailand-Cambodia border, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.
Libya takes over UN Security Council leadership
By DPA
New York : Libya has taken over the hot seat of the UN Security Council presidency as the African country and four other countries Wednesday began their two-year terms in the UN body whose political decisions are binding on the 192 UN members.
Libya, Vietnam, Croatia, Costa Rica and Burkina Faso are the newest elected members on the 15-nation council. Libya became president during the first month of its tenure because of the alphabetical rotation of the post.
Cutting down glucose extends healthy cells’ lifespan
By IANS,
Washington: Restricting consumption of glucose, the most common dietary sugar, can extend the life of healthy human lung cells and speed the death of pre-cancerous cells in the vital organ.
The research potentially opens the way to prevent diseases like cancer that have been linked to aging, said principal study investigator Trygve Tollefsbol, professor of biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
Colombian caught trying to board plane with grenade
By IANS/EFE,
Bogota: A man was arrested when a grenade was found in his carry-on luggage as he tried to board a commercial flight in the southwestern Colombian city of Guapi, authorities said.
China bird flu toll rises to 33
By IANS,
Beijing : The toll due to the H7N9 avian influenza in China has risen to 33, with the death of an 83-year-old woman in Shanghai, officials said Saturday.
India to send special envoys to Sri Lanka: Mukherjee
By IANS,
New Delhi: With Sri Lanka's military offensive against the Tamil Tigers coming to an end, India said Tuesday it would send send special envoys to Colombo and is also preparing a Rs.500 crore (Rs.5 billion) package to help in the rehabilitation of Tamil civilians displaced in the fighting.
South Korea keeps policy rate on hold
By IANS,
Seoul: South Korea's central bank Thursday kept its policy rate on hold at 2.75 percent, maintaining the wait-and-see stance for five straight months, media reports said.
US’ Asian Population Split Over Hillary And Obama
NEW YORK, Feb 8 (Bernama) -- Although Asians living in the US have shown little interest in the fortunes of the Republican candidates in the ongoing presidential race, their interest in the two prominent Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and rival Barack Obama, has been high-itched.
Suhasihni Doraiswamy, a second generation Malaysian Indian from Penang, who is working as an intern in New York's downtown financial district, calls herself a complete Hilary fan who would give her vote to the former First Lady.
Chinese Citizen Killed In Thailand’s Restive South
By Bernama,
Bangkok : Chinese Consulate-General based in Songkhla on Monday confirmed that a Chinese citizen was killed on Sunday in the insurgent-violence-torn Narathiwat province, XINHUA reported.
Cai Wensheng, 56, from Wenzhou in the Zhejiang Province of eastern China, was shot in the head by an unknown number of assailants in Ra-Ngae district, Narathiwat province at around 2pm (0700 GMT) on Sunday.
Chinese Consul-General Wu Yangyu told XINHUA that Cai, a carpet seller, carried a tourist visa into Thailand died in the hospital.
German gov’t urges efforts to add Islam to education programs
By IRNA,
Berlin : German Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere on Monday called on the country's 16 states to accelerate their efforts in adding Islam to their school curriculum.
Tibetan, Chinese officials to meet for first time in 15 months
By DPA,
Beijing/Washington : Special envoys of the Dalai Lama travelled to China Tuesday for a meeting with Chinese government officials, the first since a November 2008 round of talks ended in mutual recrimination.
The US administration welcomed the move, and "hopes this meeting will produce positive results and provide a foundation for future discussions to resolve outstanding issues", the State Department said.
Google launches indoor maps feature in Singapore
By IANS,
Singapore: Google launched its indoor maps feature in Singapore Tuesday, making the city state the second country in Asia to have it.
Satellite collision debris no threat to ISS: Russian space agency
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : The debris from the collision Tuesday involving two communications satellites poses no threat to the International Space Station (ISS), a spokesman for Russia's space agency Roscosmos said Thursday.
Alexander Vorobyov said that while Roscosmos could not confirm the origin of the satellites, the risk to the ISS and its crew was minimal.
"There are no registered losses in the Roscosmos satellite grouping," Vorobyov added.