CANBERRA:  Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard forged an alliance with the Greens party on Wednesday to take her party closer to forming a government, but vowed not to allow the deal to change her plans for a tax on miners` profits."Our election commitments are our election

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani government air raids have killed up to 45 militants and their family members in hideouts in the northwestern Khyber region on the Afghan border, security officials said on Wednesday.The strikes targeted militants in their stronghold, the Tirah Valley, on Tuesday

KABUL: The number of US soldiers killed in the Afghan war in 2010 is the highest annual toll since the conflict began almost nine years ago, according to an AFP count Wednesday.A total of 323 US soldiers have been killed in the Afghan war this year, compared to 317 for all of 2009,

LONDON: Former British prime minister Tony Blair said he was "desperately sorry" over the Iraq war deaths and branded Gordon Brown`s premiership a "disaster" as he let loose in his memoirs out Wednesday.Entitled "A Journey", Blair said the book was his account of the "human being" at the

WASHINGTON/BAGHDAD: President Barack Obama declared an end to the seven-year U.S. combat mission in Iraq on Tuesday and promised recession-weary Americans "my central responsibility" now is to repair the U.S. economy.Obama, who inherited the war from President George W. Bush and is

BAGHDAD: Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told Iraqis on Tuesday their own soldiers and police are up to the job in an "independent" state as US forces ended a combat role after seven years of warfare."This is a day that will remain in the memory of all Iraqis. Today, Iraq has become a

BERLIN: German prosecutors said Tuesday they had charged three men suspected of fundraising and buying weapons for the Sri Lankan separatist group the Tamil Tigers.Sri Lankan national Vijikanendra V. S., 35, and German nationals Sasitharan M., 33, and Koneswaran T., 39, were charged with

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka`s Supreme Court on Tuesday began assessing a draft bill that would amend the island`s constitution to allow President Mahinda Rajapakse to run for office for a third term. Registrar of the Supreme Court said the five-judge bench would give their decision to the

NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday offered another 20 million dollars in flood aid to Pakistan, the country`s foreign minister said, boosting efforts to build goodwill between the estranged neighbours.S.M. Krishna told parliament a fresh instalment of 20 million dollars will boost India`s total

SINGAPORE: Singapore`s population crossed five million this year and more than a third of the total are foreigners, the statistics department said Tuesday.The city-state`s total population stood at 5.08 million people at the end of June, it said in a statement.Of the number, 3.23 million

JERUSALEM: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak have met secretly in Amman ahead of Middle East peace talks that start in Washington this week, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.The two met on Sunday in a private home in the Jordanian capital, where

AMSTERDAM:  Dutch police Monday arrested two men on a US flight whose luggage reportedly contained box cutters, knives, and a cellphone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle.ABC News reported that the pair were charged with "preparing a terrorist attack," but Dutch airport police would say only

MOSCOW:  Scandals involving police crime are becoming more and more frequent in Russia -- kidnapping, murder, torture and corruption among them -- casting doubts on President Dmitry Medvedev`s ability to reform the tainted force.In the latest incident, four Moscow policemen were arrested

WASHINGTON: The US government on Monday slapped sanctions on four people and eight organizations accused of aiding North Korea`s government through illicit trade, the Treasury Department said.President Barack Obama issued an order freezing assets and imposing travel bans, as Washington

MEXICO CITY: Mexican authorities on Monday announced the capture of one of the country`s most sought after drug kingpins, US-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal, known as "the Barbie" for his fair complexion.Valdez was detained in a police operation in central Mexico, following intelligence work

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama marks the symbolic date of the end of US combat operations in Iraq on Tuesday, seven years after an invasion he opposed and at a time when the country still seems far from being stabilized.Speaking from the Oval Office, Obama will address Americans in a

New Delhi: The civil nuclear liability bill was passed by Indian parliament Monday, marking the culmination of one of the most contentious and widely debated pieces of legislation that saw prolonged discussions between the government and the opposition to ensure its smooth passage.The

ROME: Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi`s visit to Rome to mark the second anniversary of a friendship treaty with former coloniser Italy stumbled into controversy Monday after he said Europe should convert to Islam.Kadhafi made the comments on Sunday during a lecture to a group of 500 young

CARACAS: Venezuela on Monday exhumed the remains of two sisters of independence hero Simon Bolivar, hoping to compare DNA samples obtained from them to remains believed to belong to the Latin American leader. The country exhumed what is believed to be Bolivar`s body in July, with

LONDON:  Britain must have a foreign policy "with a conscience" and try to inspire other countries with "our values", Foreign Secretary William Hague said Tuesday.In an article in The Daily Telegraph newspaper, he said Britain should lobby its "oldest and staunchest allies", as well as