International

By Xinhua TokyoFormer : Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yasuo Fukuda and the Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Taro Aso filed their candidature Saturday for the ruling party's presidential election. Fukuda and Aso are the two candidates for the party helm as the LDP's acceptance of candidacies closed at 11.30 a.m. Saturday. The two candidates will hold a policy debate Saturday afternoon and will carry out a street campaign in Tokyo and other major cities in the following days.

By Soudhriti Bhabani, IANS, Kolkata : Man is not a natural prey for big cats, but tigers in the Sundarbans in West Bengal are increasingly sneaking out of the dense mangrove forests and attacking humans, prompting the government to finally wake up to the warning signals. An expert committee will be set up to monitor the activities of maneaters, as such big cats are called. It will try to find out why the tigers are attacking villagers - officially, there have been at least six such cases in the past year, but many more are suspected to have gone unrecorded.

By NNN-PTI, Washington : Democratic White House frontrunner Barack Obama has clinched ten states, including the critical New Hampshire, while his Republican rival John McCain emerged victorious in three after voting in the US Presidential polls ended in most of the regions, according to the media here. CNN said that Obama claimed the states of Vermont (3), Connecticut (7), Delaware (3), Illinois (21), Maine (4), Maryland (10), Massachusetts (12), New Jersey (15), New Hampshire (4) and District of Columbia (3).

Abuja: At least 20 people were killed in a bomb explosion that rocked Zaria city in Nigeria's northwestern state of Kaduna on Tuesday, provincial...

By IANS,

By IANS/EFE, Santiago : Spain's Eosol Energy plans to build a $615 million solar energy project in Tocopilla, a town in northern Chile.

By P. Karunakharan, IANS, Colombo : Sri Lanka has invited India's Tata Motors to relocate its controversial Tata Nano car manufacturing plant to the island nation, an official said Sunday. An official of the Board of Investment (BOI) said that Sri Lanka's Enterprise Development and Minister of Investment Promotion Sarath Amunugama made the offer last week. This followed objections in West Bengal's Singur area to the Nano small car project. Nano is described as a small, affordable and rear engine passenger car aimed primarily at the Indian market.

New York: An Indian citizen residing illegally in the US has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for allegedly trying to provide material...

By IANS, By RIA Novosti, Moscow: The Russian Defence Ministry Friday denied that the country's planes violated Finnish airspace.

By IRNA London : Measures in the new Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill will infringe human rights in the UK and should be amended or dropped, an all-party parliamentary committee warned Friday. The bill lays out proposals across policy areas as diverse as blasphemy laws, dealing with prostitution, youth offending and the proposed ban on prison workers striking. It has been described by the government as an exercise in "rebalancing the criminal justice system in favour of the law abiding majority."

By P. Karunakharan, IANS, Colombo : Sri Lanka Monday said it would propose for the creation of "food crisis fund" and generation of buffer stocks for the SAARC member countries to face the global food crisis. "We need to look at food requirement of a member country from the regional point of view. Creation of food crisis fund and generation of buffer stock is something that we take as an item in the agenda of the summit here," Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told reporters here Monday.

By IANS, London : A British helicopter Thursday crashed into the North Sea off Scotland but all 16 people on board are safe, an officer said.

By IANS, London : Salman Rushdie will be at the High Court later Tuesday for the settlement of a libel action he brought over allegations in a book written by a former policeman. Ron Evans, a former Special Branch driver, made a number of allegations in the book, "On Her Majesty's Service". It was to have been published at the beginning of August, but was delayed after being serialised in The Mail on Sunday when Rushdie first became aware of its contents.

By IANS, Beijing : US retail giant Wal-Mart plans to open more than 100 new stores in China over the next three years, Xinhua reported Thursday.

By Xinhua, Yangon : British Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch Brown and Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Hitoshi Kimura are currently in Yangon to look into the status of Myanmar's relief and resettlement works in the aftermath of the cyclone disaster, the state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Monday.

New York : Media plays an important role in its coverage of portraying Muslims as terrorists, says a study. Exposure to news stories which are...

SINGAPORE, Jan 28 (Bernama) -- About 500 soldiers from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are now in New Zealand for the annual artillery exercise codenamed "Exercise Thunder Warrior" with the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF). Singapore's Defence Ministry said in a statement today that the exercise, involving soldiers from the 23rd and 24th Battalion of the Singapore artillery and a military intelligence battalion, would strengthen interoperability between the two armed forces.

By IANS/EFE, Bogota : Anti-drug police in Colombia have destroyed six clandestine landing strips used by drug traffickers in the country's northern province of La Guajira, bordering Venezuela, authorities said. "According to the advanced investigations ... in the north of the country, there is evidence that this corridor is a new route used by drug traffickers for movement of hallucinogenic substances to Central America," police said in a report Wednesday.

By IANS, Beijing : At least three people were killed and 17 were injured when a blast ripped through a boiler room in a hospital in China, officials said.

By IANS, Washington : An aide of President Barack Obama has taken a swipe at Sarah Palin mimicking the former Republican vice presidential candidate's use of her hand as a notepad during a speech last week. At the daily press briefing Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs showed his left hand with writing on it, which apparently was his grocery list to purchase ahead of Wednesday's expected snowstorm.

By DPA, Nairobi/Praia: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was due to wrap up her seven-nation Africa tour in the tiny archipelago nation of Cape Verde Friday. Clinton was on the last day of an 11-day tour aimed at highlighting the Obama administration's commitment to the continent and promoting better governance. The diplomat said that she believed the trip had been "wonderful" and had helped build better links between the US and Africa.

By IRNA, New York : From the economy to foreign affairs to the way they carried themselves on stage, John McCain and Barack Obama offered a dramatic contrast Friday night in their first presidential debate. The two men met for 90 minutes against the backdrop of the worst US financial crisis since the Great Depression and intensive negotiations in Congress over a $700 billion bailout plan for Wall Street.

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : An American couple has travelled 9,300 miles from Bangalore to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and his running mate Joe Biden in the Nov 4 election. For nearly a month, Susan Scott-Ker and her husband had been waiting for their New York State absentee ballots to arrive in India, where she has been working since the summer, the New York Times reported.

By IANS, London : A widely-read agenda-setting newspaper column in Britain has described Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s four-year tenure as a “crashing disappointment”, with failure to roll out second generation economic reforms making India the worst-performing emerging market.

Brooklyn, New York : Famous American actress Lindsay Lohan has reportedly turned to Islam after she was photographed carrying a copy of the Qur'an on her first day of community service in Brooklyn, New York on Wednesday, according to media reports.

By RIA Novosti, Simferopol : More than 5,000 inhabitants of the Crimean city of Feodosia were evacuated from their homes Tuesday morning as a World War II mine was removed from a city beach. The mine was found Sunday on the seabed by two men who thought it was a large gas tank and dragged it to shore in the hope of selling it for scrap. "It was only after the would-be metalworkers knocked off the lid and saw the workings of one of the fuses that they realised that they were not dealing with a tank, but with a real bomb," the Ukrainian emergencies ministry said in a news release.

By Xinhua Washington : The US will reserve some denials of work visas, a positive move to resolve the messy immigration tangle, The Wall Street Journal said. The government will accept at least some applications for work-based green cards that were filed by thousands of skilled workers in early July at the government's invitation and then abruptly rejected, according to the report published Monday.

By Indo-Asian News Service Kathmandu: More than a year after Nepal's Maoist guerrillas laid down their arms, their success with the gun still continues to inspire new bands to begin armed movements in the Terai plains in the south, the new hub of violence in the Himalayan nation. Though the communist insurgents, who waged a 10-year "People's War" from 1996 to overthrow monarchy, signed a truce last year that agreed to make them partners in the government, one of their senior leaders from the plains left the party in 2003 to start a new battle.

By IANS Mexico City : The visiting US Attorney General Michael Mukasey has praised the success of the Project Gunrunner that aims to reduce the flow of illegal weapons from the US into Mexico, EFE news agency reported Thursday. The US justice department plans to deploy "additional resources to arrest and prosecute violent criminals, and trace the firearms used by criminal gangs in Mexico and the US", Mukasey said at a joint press conference Wednesday with Mexican counterpart Eduardo Medina Mora.

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By IRNA, London : Britain’s closest election for decades will result in a hung parliament with the opposition Conservatives unable to win at least 113 additional seats to have a parliamentary majority, according to a joint exit poll. The MORI/NOP findings published after voting ended at 22.00 BST (21.00 GMT) confirmed opinion poll forecasts that there would be no overall majority in the 650 member House of Commons.

By IANS, Colombo : Sri Lankan Navy Friday identified a top Tamil Tiger leader's family members trying to flee the war zone along with a group of civilians, the defence ministry said. The members were identified as LTTE's Sea Tiger wing leader Soosai's wife, son, daughter, sister-in-law and her son, who were among a group of 11 people on board a boat rescued by the navy, the ministry said on its website. A large sum of money has also been found in possession of the Soosai's kin.

By IANS/RIA Novosti, Moscow: A former Moscow official shot himself dead on the day he was due to be sentenced after being convicted of abuse of office.

By DPA, Geneva : The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted Wednesday a resolution which praised the government of Sri Lanka for its commitment to human rights, while condemning the Tamil Tiger rebels. The resolution, tabled by Sri Lanka itself and other nations, including China, Cuba and Egypt, also allows the government to let aid agencies' have access to camps for the internally displaced "as may be appropriate". A bloc of Western nations, whose counter proposal was defeated, wanted full access for aid groups like the International Committee of the Red Cross and UN agencies.

Colombo: The Sri Lanka army Saturday ordered strict action against soldiers found harassing female recruits in a video circulating on the Internet. The video shows...

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

By DPA, Athens : Violence escalated in Greece's two largest cities Sunday as protesters hurled petrol bombs and burning garbage bins at police to commemorate the first anniversary of the shooting death of a teenager by police. Athens turned into a war zone as riot police fired tear gas at hooded youths hurling chunks of marble and petrol bombs after breaking away from a march of more than 3,000 people to mark the death of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a policemen's bullet.

By Arun Kumar,IANS, Washington : The influential US daily, the Washington Post, has endorsed Democratic candidate Barack Obama saying he has the potential to become a great president, who "would seek to maintain US leadership and engagement" abroad. Adding its national weight to 39 other regional newspapers that have backed Obama, the Post in an editorial Friday described him as "a man of supple intelligence, with a nuanced grasp of complex issues and evident skill at conciliation and consensus-building".

By IANS/RIA Novosti, Moscow : Police in Kazakhstan have launched a criminal investigation into a report about a group of men using the national flag to collect garbage.

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By IANS, Beijing: A 6.2-magnitude earthquake jolted offshore Guatemala Monday, Xinhua reported.

By TwoCircles.net news desk The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is kicking off its second annual “16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence” campaign by spotlighting five stories – involving domestic violence in Russia, sex slavery in India, self-immolation in Central Asia, gender-based violence and HIV and ‘compensation’ marriages – it believes deserve more global media attention. The 16 days run from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, until 10 December, International Human Rights Day.

By Bernama, Beijing : As of midday Tuesday, 159 aftershocks measuring above 4 on the Richter scale had been monitored in southwestern Sichuan Province, Xinhua news agency quoted the China Seismological Bureau as saying here on Tuesday. Among them, 26 aftershocks measured above magnitude 5, 4 above magnitude 6, says the Bureau. A devastating earthquake measuring 8 on the Richter scale rocked southwest China on May 12, leading to the death of more than 34,000 people.

By IANS/RIA Novosti, Moscow: Nine people travelling in a Moscow wedding procession face charges after one of them started firing off a gun, the police said Tuesday.

By IANS/RIA Novosti, Moscow: Law enforcement personnel in Russia have killed 73 alleged Islamist insurgents in the North Caucasus region over the first three months of 2013, police said.

By IANS, Beijing: In a bizarre protest, four Chinese men in Beijing chopped off the tip of the little finger of their hand and swallowed it to protest their sacking from a power utility company. Li Bo, Zhang Yongsheng, Huang Qunyue and Zhang Shen are former employees of the Ningyuan county electric power bureau in Hunan province's Yongzhou city. The four men went to the Tsinghua University in Beijing at about 3.30 p.m. Sunday and placed their hands on books, Global Times reported.

By Xinhua Paris : Air France has launched the first mobile phone services on international flights in a move that will allow passengers to use their Internet enabled laptops to send and receive SMS, MMS and e-mail, the airline said Thursday. Currently, only Australia's Qantas airline has a similar service that is offered strictly on domestic flights. The service to be operated on a six-month experiment basis is to be rolled out on a single Air France plane, an Airbus A318.

By Xinhua Washington : U.S. President George W. Bush sent Congress a 3.1 trillion budget on Monday for the 2009 fiscal year that approached a landmark in military spending and would widen the government's deficit. "Two key principles guided the development of my budget -- keeping America safe and ensuring our continued prosperity," Bush said in his budget message to Congress. "As commander in chief, my highest priority is the security of the American people."

By Xinhua, Manila : Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is appealing for the passage of ASEAN Charter for further economic integration within the Association of South East Asian Nations, the Philippine government said in a statement on Friday. Economic integration within the Association of South East Asian Nations is imperative to face the challenges of globalization, Arroyo said during an Independence Day reception Thursday in the presidential palace.

By Xinhua, 　Pyongyang : The official Rodong Sinmun daily accused on Wednesday a U.S. bill of strengthening defence cooperation with South Korea, saying it escalated military tensions on the Korean Peninsular. The "bill on closer U.S.-South Korea defense cooperation," passed by the Congress in September, "betrays a sinister intention to round off the preparations for the second Korean war and reinforces the military alliance between the U.S. and South Korea," the Rodong Sinmun said.

By KUNA, Geneva : The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called Friday upon the Government of Greece to promptly review its asylum procedures. UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond told reporters that other governments and the European Commission are encouraged to reinforce their support to Greece. "UNHCR remains committed to continue supporting the Government of Greece in strengthening its asylum system to a level reflecting international and European standards and good practice," said Redmond.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,

By NNN-TNA Bangkok : Thailand's Ministry of Information and Communication Technology has set up a committee to consider filing a criminal lawsuit against Google Inc., the US-based parent corporation of YouTube, as the company rejected Thai appeals to remove controversial video clips deemed insulting to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom said. The owner of YouTube ignored the request, Mr. Sitthichai said, stating that it is now necessary for Thailand to sue to force the company to remove the clips.

By Xinhua, Beijing : The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is to give seven million Yuan (about $1 million) in relief aid to China's quake-hit areas. The Beijing Organising Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games Wednesday said the donation would be sent to Chinese relief organisations for relief work. An earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale hit the Sichuan Province Monday. The tremor was also felt across large parts of China. Thousands of people were killed in the aftermath.

By NNN-APP, United Nations : All of the world’s great religions have a critical role to play in building and cementing global peace, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has told a gathering of Asian religious figures Friday. In a video message sent to the General Assembly of the Asian Conference of Religions for Peace, held at Manila, Ban called on the religions to work together with the UN to build peace, according to a press release issued at UN Headquarters in New York..

By IANS, Rio de Janeiro : Nine people were killed and 22 others injured when a passenger bus veered off the road and fell into a river in southwestern Brazil, EFE reported Tuesday. Three other people were missing after the accident in Alem Paraiba town, the report said. Heavy shower caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle on a curve, it said. There were 34 people on board the bus at the time of the accident. The authorities have started an investigation into the incident.

By DPA San Diego : "This was a black Mercedes," says Robert Buckenmeyer, pointing to a burned out car wreck covered with a layer of white ash. Hardly anything is left of his $2.5 million villa in Rancho Bernado after devastating fires swept through southern California this week. "We were hoping to dig and see what survived, maybe a computer or pictures, but you can't even go in there and dig. It's nothing but twisted metal," said Robert, who was on vacation in Hawaii with his wife, Maggie, when the destruction happened.

By DPA, Hanoi : Vietnam has protested a new Chinese law aimed at protecting the nation's islands, including the disputed Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, local media reported Wednesday. "Vietnam has time and again affirmed its sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos," Vietnam News quoted government spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga as saying. "All activities of other countries, including the promulgation of legal regulations relating to these archipelagos and Vietnam's Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf, are of no legal value."

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By IANS

London : The life of Shambo, the bovine TB-infected bull in a Hindu temple in Wales, once again hangs in balance after a court of appeal Monday ruled that the earlier decision of the Welsh Assembly to slaughter it was "justified".

The animal had got a reprieve last week when a judge in the high court had ruled that destroying Shambo would be unlawful. The animal is based in the Skanda Vale temple where priests and Hindu groups have been campaigning for its life to be spared on the ground that a bull is sacred in Hindu religion.

By DPA, Brussels/Washington : The European Union (EU) Wednesday applauded US President Barack Obama for warning against protectionist measures in the midst of a global economic crisis. Obama, in interviews with US television networks Tuesday night, said he was worried about the US Congress sending signals that could trigger a trade war between the US, the EU and other countries.

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By DPA, Tokyo : Japan posted a trade deficit of 63.9 billion yen ($661 million) in October as exports fell with the global financial crisis and the yen's continued strength against other currencies, the finance ministry said. Exports in October declined 7.7 percent to 6.92 trillion yen from the same month a year before, posting the largest fall since December 2001, when exports fell 14.5 percent. Imports rose 7.4 percent to 6.99 trillion yen on rises in crude oil, coal and liquefied natural gas prices. Japan's trade deficit with China grew 27.3 percent to 228.3 billion yen.

By IANS, Washington : China is hiding its ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads in a vast network of tunnels, said a media report citing a study carried out by a professor and his students.

New Delhi: A 55-year-old British engineer was found dead in the Defence Colony area here, Delhi Police said on Monday. Paul Barker was working as...

By IANS,

By DPA, Helsinki : The world's largest cruise ship Friday morning left the Finnish shipyard where it was built and embarked on its voyage to its home port in Florida, US. The 360-metre long 'Oasis of the Seas' was built at the STX Finland shipyard in Turku operated by the South Korean group, STX. During the initial stage of its voyage, the 47-metre wide vessel was to be assisted by tugboats as it negotiates its way through the Turku archipelago into the Baltic Sea.

By IANS, Sao Paulo (Brazil) : A stolen 1933 painting by the legendary Spanish painter Pablo Picasso was found abandoned by the Brazilian police here, Spain's EFE news agency reported Tuesday. The painting, one of the four artworks that were stolen from the municipal art gallery here in June, was found abandoned next to a highway in the main city of Sao Paulo state last Friday, the report said. The discovery was announced Monday only after the confirmation of the painting by experts, an official said.

By IANS/AKI, Rome : Flights resumed at airports in Italy and elsewhere in Europe Tuesday as the European Union eased the no-fly bans imposed last week after the eruption of ash from volcano in Iceland. Planes began departing from Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt after the EU lifted flight restrictions imposed earlier to avoid any possible damage to aircraft engines while flying through the skies in the ash cloud zone.

By IANS, London : Six suspected members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been arrested in Paris for the murder of a French policeman, a Sri Lankan diplomat said Tuesday. The incident happened at around 9 p.m Saturday night when an armed policeman in civvies spotted the six collecting funds in the Tamil-dominated La Courneuve area, said Walter Jayawardhana, a press spokesman at the Sri Lankan High Commission in London. Jayawardhana, quoting from reports from the Sri Lankan embassy in Paris, said a scuffle ensued when the policeman challenged the group,

By Arun Kumar, IANS,

By IANS, Yangon : Armed members of an ethnic group have blown up two trucks near Myanmar's eastern border with Thailand, state media reported Tuesday.

By Mark Weisbrot Since the U.S. economy showed positive growth for the last quarter, some commentators in the business press are saying that we are not necessarily going to have a recession, or that if there is one it will be mild. This is a bit like the proverbial story of the man who jumped out of a window 60 floors up, and then said "so far, so good," as he passed the 30th floor.

By IANS, Beijing : Air traffic at an airport in China was restricted for about an hour after a UFO was spotted over it, media reports said Thursday.

New Delhi : The situation in earthquake-hit Nepal is "beyond our imagination", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday. Modi said he was sad that...

By IANS/AKI,

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick has suggested formation of a core group comprising seven emerging powers, including India, joining the Group of Seven to deal with the global economic crisis. "The G-7 is not working. We need a better group for a different time," he said in a speech to the Peterson Institute for International Economics here Monday. "For financial and economic cooperation, we should consider a new Steering Group including Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the current G-7."

By IANS, The Hague : Around 50,000 tonnes of beef sold across Europe was recalled by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) on fears it might contain horse meat.

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By IANS, Colombo : The Sri Lankan police Saturday launched investigations into the shooting of a journalist attached to a leading independent newspaper, reported Xinhua.

By IANS, Colombo : Sri Lanka and Singapore have signed an agreement to boost bilateral trade and investment.

By RIA Novosti, Moscow : Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned European countries against following U.S. foreign policy ahead of an EU emergency meeting on Monday on the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia. Russia officially recognized the Georgian breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on Tuesday, saying the move was needed to protect the region following Georgia's military offensive on August 8. Western countries condemned the move as an "irresponsible decision."

Fatullah (Bangladesh): With the India series knocking on the door, Bangladesh batsman Mominul Haque has set his sights on South African skipper AB de...

By IANS, Oslo : Former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who has played a major role in UN peacekeeping operations for over three decades, was Friday awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2008. In awarding the prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was in recognition of Ahtisaari's "important efforts on several continents and over more than three decades to resolve international conflicts".

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By IANS/RIA Novosti, Moscow: Dialogue between the Syrian government and opposition forces could begin within the next several months, a Syrian opposition leader said here.

By Prensa Latina, Colombo : The Sri Lankan Defense Ministry said Friday that at least, 69 Tamil separatists and government soldiers were killed during combats in the northern Sri Lanka. A dispatch issued Friday said these confrontations occurred in the last 24 hours in the northern districts of Jaffna, Welioya, Vavuniya and Mannar, the objects of a military offensive since January this year. The source said at least 32 rebels belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were killed, and another 37 were injured, while government lost two troops.

By DPA, New Orleans (US) : Government regulators are not required to conduct independent reviews of an oil rig's blow-out preventer, the fail-safe mechanism that failed to seal off the well that is now spewing crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, it was revealed Tuesday. The blow-out preventer (BOP) became a hot topic during the first public hearings into what caused the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig off the Louisiana coast.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,

By Xinhua, Brussels : In a bid to tackle rising crimes in running trains, the Dutch railway company NS has panned to equip all trains with surveillance cameras, Dutch news agency ANP reported Wednesday. New trains will be fitted with automatic cameras while older ones will be renovated to have cameras fitted, according to ANP. The first batch of trains to have security cameras will be the 99 new local service Sprinters, due for delivery at the end of the year.

By IRNA Berlin : The German government here Monday stressed its support for Serbia's path to the European Union less than a day after ultra-national leader Tomislav Nikolic won the first round of the Serbian elections against President Boris Tadic. Addressing a press conference, German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said, "We believe that the future of Serbia lies in the European Union. We will support Serbia on this path. The choice whether they want or not want to go this path lies with the citizens of Serbia."

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By IANS, London : Sri Lankan Tamil protesters smashed windows of the Indian High Commission and some forced their way inside the building during a demonstration here Monday. The High Commission has sought adequate protection from the British government. British police arrested five Sri Lankan Tamils after several demonstrators broke into the Indian High Commission in the middle of the protest outside the building in central London.

By IANS, London : Scientists have extracted authentic DNA from ancient Viking skeletons, deftly skirting around many of the problems past researchers faced in preserving their purity. Wearing protective suits, researchers removed the teeth from the jaw at the precise moment the skeletons were unearthed on the Danish island of Funen, where they had lain untouched for 1,000 years. The drill demonstrated for the first time how DNA from ancient humans could be retrieved without contamination. They also stringently controlled lab procedures to preserve the purity of their samples.

Tokyo : Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Monday accepted the resignation of Justice Minister Midori Matsushima after she offered to quit over an allegation...

By Xinhua, Kunming (China) : At least three people have been killed and 100 injured when a 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit a border region in southwest China. Twenty people were seriously injured in the quake that struck at 8.24 p.m. Thursday in Yingjiang county, said Gu Zhongshou, a deputy with the publicity department of prefectural committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). At least 120,000 people had been forced to evacuate their homes, the ministry of civil affairs said. Power and telecommunications networks were cut in the main districts of the county.

By DPA, Hong Kong : One in three Hong Kong teenagers would consider selling sex for money as the trend of so-called "compensated dating" sweeps the city, a survey found Sunday. Of nearly 600 youngsters aged 12 to 20 questioned in the wealthy city of seven million, 34 percent said they would consider offering compensated dating, a euphemism for prostitution, as a full-time job. Sixty percent of those who said they would consider compensated dating said they would do it mainly to earn quick cash, while 23 percent said they would do it for their own sexual gratification.

By KUNA, Kuala Lumpur : A strong earthquake measuring 7.5 degrees on the Richter scale hit Sulawesi Island in northern Indonesia here on Monday, killing two people and damaging a great number of houses. Indonesian Agency Antaranews stated that the earthquake killed two people according to early reports, while three others are reported injured. This is in addition to reports of damage to thousands of buildings.

by IANS, Seoul : North Korea has asked South Korea to send rice and necessary construction equipment to help it recover from floods, the government here said Tuesday. The request was made in a reply to an offer last week by South Korea's Red Cross to give North Korea emergency relief aid worth $8.4 million, Xinhua reported. Seoul is considering the request, the unification ministry said in a statement.

By DPA, Brussels/Moscow/Kiev : The European Union (EU) expects gas supplies from Russia to resume Tuesday morning, officials in Brussels said Monday following the signing of an accord on a gas monitoring mission in Russia and Ukraine. "The agreement has been signed by all parties. The gas will start flowing in the morning," Ferran Tarradellas, spokesman for EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, said after talks in Brussels with representatives from Russia's gas monopolist, Gazprom, and Ukraine's Naftogaz, whose pipelines are used by Moscow to deliver gas to Europe.

By RIA Novosti, Tbilisi : Georgia pledged Wednesday to appeal to international organizations if regular sea links are set up between its breakaway republic of Abkhazia and Russia. Russian media reported recently that regular passenger routes between Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi and Gagra in Abkhazia will be restarted on July 1.

By IANS, Beijing : A man dumped a box containing more than a hundred snakes in a busy market area in China, causing panic among shopkeepers and buyers. The 60-cm-long reptiles were dropped Tuesday afternoon at Quanxin Bedclothes Market in Hankou in Hubei province, China Daily reported Wednesday. The man poured out all the snakes from the box before fleeing, said a saleswoman named Zhang. "The snakes were suddenly scrambling everywhere," she said. Police were called in and they managed to round up the snakes back into a box within half an hour without causing any injury.

By IANS, Toronto : The ringleader of an Al Qaeda linked group that plotted attacks on Canada has pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy. Zakaria Amara, 24, who had planned to flee to Pakistan after carrying out the bombings, is the fourth member of the so-called Toronto-18 group to plead guilty to the plot. The plot was unearthed in June 2006 with the arrest of 18 Canadian Muslims linked to the Al Qaeda.

By IANS, Shanghai : A Chinese man sold his four-month-old son for 35,000 yuan (US$5,125) and spent the money on a motorbike, computer and eating out. Zhang Jun, 25, a resident of Anhui province, spent the cash in two months on dining, entertainment and travelling. He also bought himself a motorbike and computer, Shanghai Daily reported Thursday. Zhang has been sentenced to prison for three years.

Wellington : Former trade union head Andrew Little was Tuesday named the new leader of New Zealand's main opposition Labour Party and charged with...

By IANS,

By DPA, Paris : The international police agency Interpol said Thursday it has issued "Red Notices" for 11 individuals charged by UAE authorities in the killing of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai Jan 19. An Interpol Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant, the agency says. Rather, it targets people wanted by national jurisdictions, and enables Interpol to assist in identifying and locating the suspects with a view to their arrest and extradition.

By IANS, Moscow : At least 19 people were killed and 25 injured in Iran Sunday when their bus hit a rock and turned turtle, RIA Novosti reported.

By Xinhua Washington : The toll from a sugar plant explosion at Savannah in the southeastern US state of Georgia rose to five after rescue teams found another body, the media reported. Fire officials said Saturday that three people were still missing. At least 62 people were injured in the explosion and fire, and some were in critical condition. The Savannah Fire Department said the explosion hit the Imperial Sugar Company refinery Thursday evening when more than 100 people were working in a building where sugar was packed.

By Bernama, Moscow : Consultations on the North Korean nuclear issue will continue in Moscow on Friday, Russian news agency, Itar-Tass, reported. US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who arrives from Beijing, will meet Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin. "Russia always advocated the nuclear-free status of the Korean Peninsula. The most convenient format for holding talks on this problem has been the six-party talks, where Russia plays an important role," Borodavkin said.

By DPA, Melbourne: Local teenager Bernard Tomic has been called on the carpet by Australian Open officials after he complained that late-night scheduling was behind his second round loss to Croat Marin Cilic. But besides a ticking-off from tournament director Craig Tiley, the young hope of the post-Lleyton Hewitt generation could also find his Davis Cup future in serious strife. Both the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) are miffed after Tomic complained that playing in a showcase match that finished at 2 am was unfair to him.

By IANS, Jakarta : At least eight teenagers were washed away by the surging waters of a river in Indonesia, a media report said Sunday.

Geneva, Sep 29 (Xinhua) The UN Human Rights Council has announced that it will hold a special session on the human rights situation in Myanmar next week. The session will take place Tuesday, president of the 47-state body Doru Romulus Costea said. In a statement issued Friday, Costea said the decision about holding the special session was made following a request by 17 member states, which surpassed the one-third majority required. This will be the fifth special session convened by the Human Rights Council since it was created in June 2006.

By IANS, Kathmandu : A small plane belonging to Nepal's national carrier, Nepal Airlines, met with an accident Wednesday at the Tribhuvan International Airport during a test flight. Details are awaited.

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By Xinhua, Ottawa : Barack Obama will make Canada his first official visit to a foreign country after he becomes the US president, officials here said. "We can confirm that the president-elect has accepted the prime minister's invitation to visit Canada soon after he is inaugurated," the office of Canada's prime minister said in a statement Saturday. Canadian officials have been in close contact with president-elect Barack Obama's transition team, it said. The press release does not specify the timing of Obama's trip or other details.

By P.K. Balachandran, IANS Colombo : At least 15 people were killed and 50 others injured Wednesday when a blast ripped through a bus carrying civilians, including schoolchildren, in Sri Lanka's southern Monaragala district, reports said. The blast took place as the six-year-old ceasefire agreement (CFA) between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) officially ended.

By DPA, Bangkok : Six explosions rocked Bangkok's financial district on Silom Road Friday as troops and protesters clashed to control the heart of the capital. Unknown assailants fired M79 grenades at soldiers stationed at the Saladaeng skytrain station on Silom Road, Bangkok's main financial district and a popular entertainment area, Thai media reports said. Residents in the neighbourhood said they heard six explosions. Two people were wounded, according to The Nation newspaper's website.

By DPA, Washington : A man on a shooting rampage at a factory in the central US city of St Louis, Missouri, killed three co-workers and wounded five before taking his own life, police said late Thursday. The gunman, identified as Timothy Hendron, 51, of a nearby suburb opened fire Thursday at the ABB Inc plant where he worked, the St Louis Post-Dispatch reported on its website, citing police.

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By IANS, Washington: A federal jury Tuesday convicted a US man of conspiring to kill American soldiers in Iraq.

London, Dec 9, IRNA , A UK soldier has been killed during an assault by international forces on a Taleban stronghold in Afghanistan, it was announced Sunday. The Ministry of Defence in London confirmed the death of the soldier from the 2nd Battalion, the Yorkshire Regiment in northern England, but did not give further details. According to the Afghan defence ministry, twelve Taleban insurgents were also killed during fighting, while two children also died in a battle in Musa Qala.

By DPA, Colombo : The Sri Lankan Navy has seized a ship reported to have been used by Tamil rebels to smuggle weapons, the defence ministry said Monday. The vessel, known as the MV Princess Cristina, was escorted to Colombo harbour, the ministry said. It did not say where the 89-metre-long ship was seized or the country of origin of the carrier. The vessel was reported to have been seized based on information provided by a key Tamil rebel now in the custody of the government. The suspect, Kumaran Pathmanathan, was arrested in Thailand.

By Xinhua, Colombo : The Sri Lankan Navy has rescued a group of civilians fleeing the Tamil Tigers' last pocket in the northern Mullaittivu district, the military said Wednesday. Some 550 civilians on 31 boats were fleeing Mullaittivu's Puttumatalan area Tuesday evening, heading for the northern Jaffna peninsula when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) sea wing tried to stop them. The Navy chased away the four rebel boats, making possible the civilian boats to make the journey to the Point Pedro area in the Jaffna peninsula, naval officials said here.

By RIA Novosti, Beijing : Thirty-four workers are trapped in a coal mine in central China's Henan province that flooded on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported. According to the local industrial safety authority, 42 miners were working underground at the time of the accident. Eight miners managed to escape, and 34 are still trapped.

By IANS, Los Angeles: Oscar winning actress Brenda Fricker says she is now bankrupt after blowing all her savings.

By DPA, Tbilisi (Georgia)/Moscow : The Kremlin Thursday announced it had begun its first substantial troop withdrawals from Georgia, but army-operated road and rail checkpoints remained in place throughout the Russian area of occupation. Combat elements of Russia's 58th Army were evacuating the vicinity of the north Georgian town Gori and would return to South Ossetia over the next two days, a Russian army spokesman told the Interfax news agency. The first 100-vehicle column had reached the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali by 9 a.m. Thursday morning, the official said.

By IANS/RIA Novosti, Moscow : Russian law enforcement agencies lost 115 officers to Islamic insurgency in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan in 2012, the prosecutor general's office said.

Pathankot (Punjab): Occasional sound of firing could be heard from inside as search and combing operations by security forces continued at the Indian Air...

By SPA, Chengdu, China : China said it was struggling to find shelter for many of the 5 million people whose homes were destroyed in last week's earthquake, while the region remained jittery Tuesday over warnings of aftershocks. Meanwhile, rescuers pulled a 31-year-old man to safety, the second case of someone being found alive a week after the May 12 earthquake struck Sichuan province. Officials say the death toll is expected to surpass 50,000, and millions have been left homeless.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS, Kathmandu : Uncertain of being able to elect a new prime minister Monday in the third round of an unprecedented, protracted battle for power, Nepal's major parties have agreed to hold a fourth round of election Thursday.

By DPA, Berlin : The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned against threats of military action against states with suspected nuclear plants, charging that the threats are undermining the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a German news magazine reported Saturday. IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei referred to the bombing of the al-Kibar complex in Syria's north-eastern desert by Israeli aircraft in September last year and to Israeli warnings on Iran's nuclear facilities, in an interview with the German news magazine Der Spiegel.

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United Nations : A HIV-positive couple in India, an indigenous group in Malaysia and nomadic children in China are the focus of stories that have won United Nations prizes for media.