MOSCOW: Five people died in southern Russia after new forest fires broke out, a regional official told news agencies on Friday."According to our data, the bodies of five people were found in the fire. But this is preliminary information," the head of Volgograd region`s investigative

New York: Two-thirds of New York City residents want a controversial Muslim community centre and mosque to be relocated farther away from the site of 9/11 terrorist attack, according to a New York Times poll. The poll indicates that support for the 13-story complex at the Sep 11, 2001

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana:  An oil platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico forced the crew to dive into the sea and threatened further damage to waters still recovering from the BP disaster. Fire engulfed the offshore platform 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of the Louisiana coast

Washington: Israeli and Palestinian leaders have held their first direct negotiations in nearly two years, in Washington. The US Middle East envoy said the talks, between Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, had been "constructive". Both sides have agreed

BOGOTA: Fourteen police officers were killed when their patrol vehicle was blown up by a rebel mine on a road in southern Caqueta department, local police said Thursday. "At first we got reports of five police killed in a mine field, but only when we managed to get there Thursday, due to

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan: Pakistan`s Taliban on Friday took responsibility for triple bombings at a Shi`ite Muslim procession in the city of Lahore that killed 33 people. Wednesday`s blasts in the eastern city was the first major militant attack in Pakistan since floods waters tore

Havana: Cuban leader Fidel Castro will deliver Friday his first public speech since 2006, during a meeting with students of the Havana University. The speech would focus on "another war in the Middle East with unforeseeable consequences for the world", Cuba`s Granma newspaper said. It

HANOI: Military searchers have recovered the remains of around 74 communist troops who died in the Vietnam War`s Tet Offensive in January 1968, an official said Friday. "We also found watches, buttons from military uniforms and hammocks. This evidence confirmed they were Vietnamese

Gaza: Over a dozen Palestinian militant groups Thursday pledged to step up joint and separate attacks on Israeli targets to foil Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations in Washington. "The factions agreed that all means are open to the Palestinian resistance to deal with Israel in the

Jakarta: An Indonesian volcano spewed another column of hot ash Friday, a vulcanologist said. Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra province erupted for the first time in about 400 years Sunday and Monday, forcing 30,000 people to flee their homes to temporary shelters. About 10,000 people

MEXICO CITY: At least 25 suspected drug gang members were killed in an army raid in rural northeastern Mexico on Thursday, the army said in a press release. Soldiers were sent to the location after an airborne patrol sighted armed men outside a building. Fighting began when the men

LONDON: Labour leadership candidate David Miliband told party members Thursday that he was "ready to lead" and would "change the way we do politics," before claiming that former leaders Gordon Brown and Tony Blair`s "time has passed".Voting began Wednesday to elect a new leader of the

TALOOQAN: An apparent air strike by foreign forces killed 10 election campaign workers in Afghanistan`s north on Thursday, a government spokesman said, and NATO-led forces said they were investigating the incident.Civilian casualties caused by foreign forces while hunting militants have

New Delhi: The process of re-election of Sonia Gandhi as Congress president was set in motion today with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi besides several prominent party leaders proposing her name for the top post.The leaders who proposed her name included party chief

London: British physicist Stephen Hawking has said the creation of the universe was a result of the inevitable laws of physics and it did not need God`s help.In his latest book titled "The Grand Design", Hawking writes: "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will

Washington: An armed man shot and killed by police after a tense four-hour standoff at the Discovery Channel`s headquarters told a TV channel he had several bombs strapped to his body "ready to go off."The gunman who had taken three hostages Wednesday in the Discovery building in the

ISLAMABAD: Relief efforts in flood-ravaged Pakistan are being stretched by the "unprecedented scale" of the disaster, while funding has almost stalled, the UN said Thursday."Given the number of those in need, this is a humanitarian operation of unprecedented scale," said Manuel Bessler,

Sydney: Independent MP from Tasmania, Andrew Wilkie decided Thursday to support the Labor Party, giving incumbent Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard 74 seats in her bid to form a minority government.Wilkie, who won the Denison seat, however, said his support to a returned Gillard

Chile: Chilean miners trapped underground after a rock collapse have received their first hot meal in 26 days.Meatballs, chicken and rice were piped through a tube to the 33 miners, who are stuck 700m (2,300ft) below the surface.Previously the miners have been only been nourished with

LONDON: Ex-premier Tony Blair`s memoirs are a good read but they risk re-opening old wounds in his Labour party just as it struggles to fight back from electoral defeat, British newspapers said Thursday.The personal details and indiscreet remarks contained in "A Journey" -- including