HAVANA: Cuba will lay off more than 500,000 state employees by March and expand private employment to give them work in the biggest shift to the private sector since the 1960s, the Cuban Workers Federation said on Monday.Eventually more than a million jobs would be cut and, due to efforts

SEOUL: South Korea said Tuesday it would allow more of its citizens to work in a jointly-run industrial estate in North Korea amid growing signs of a thaw in cross-border relations.The Unification Ministry plans to let up to 900 South Koreans work at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, up

MIRANSHAH: A salvo of US missiles killed at least seven militants in Pakistan`s northwestern tribal belt on Tuesday, the tenth such strike in 11 days, security officials said.The Pakistani officials said four missiles hit a militant compound in Bushnarai village in Shawal district of

TOKYO: Japan`s Prime Minister Naoto Kan survived a leadership challenge by a party powerbroker Tuesday after just three months in office, but his government could still face new political tumult.Kan was re-elected by his centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) as party president,

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Egypt on Tuesday urging Israel and the Palestinians to find ways to clear the "hurdle" posed by a looming expiration of a freeze on Jewish settlements.The settlements issue could stall the new peace talks between Israeli

CARACAS: Fifteen people died in a plane crash in eastern Venezuela, but 36 others miraculously survived after the pilot alerted air traffic control that something was wrong moments before disaster struck.The plane, carrying 47 passengers and four crew from the resort city of Isla

CANBERRA: Julia Gillard was sworn in as Australia`s prime minister Tuesday, faced with leading a fragile coalition government after scraping back into power in the wake of a cliffhanger election. Gillard, Australia`s first woman prime minister, formally returned to office nearly a week

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday Israel could not extend a moratorium on housing construction in West Bank settlements but indicated he would limit the scope of future building, officials said.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to quit nascent

SEOUL: South Korea Monday released a full report into the deadly sinking of a warship blamed on North Korea, saying it was acting to quell "groundless" suspicions about who was to blame for the tragedy.The defence ministry report, numbering around 300 pages, reaffirms conclusions reached

NEW DELHI: Indian academics have long dreamt of resurrecting Nalanda University, one of the world`s oldest seats of learning which has lain in ruins for 800 years since being razed by foreign invaders.Now the chance of intellectual life returning to Nalanda has come one step closer after

Manila: Authorities in the Philippines on Monday tried to trace the mother who gave birth then abandoned her newborn baby on a flight from the Middle East. The baby boy, covered in blood and wrapped in tissue paper, was found by an airport security officer in a garbage bag unloaded from

TOKYO: Japan on Monday released the 14 crew of a Chinese fishing trawler that collided with two Japanese coastguard vessels in disputed waters last week, but kept its captain in detention.The incident has sparked a diplomatic row between the Asian powers, with China calling off planned

MEXICO CITY: Authorities have arrested one of Mexico`s most wanted men, alleged drug trafficker Sergio Villarreal, who is said to work for the Beltran Leyva cartel, a military source told AFP."Sergio Villarreal, `El Grande,` was arrested with two other people in a non-violent operation in

SYDNEY: An Australian lawyer tore pages from the Koran and the Bible and smoked them on YouTube, days after a US pastor`s threat to burn Islam`s holy book triggered deadly protests and global condemnation.In a 12-minute clip entitled "Bible or Koran -- which burns best?" Alex Stewart, who

BAGHDAD: Tens of thousands of detainees are being held without trial in Iraqi prisons and face violent and psychological abuse as well as other forms of mistreatment, Amnesty International said Monday.The London-based human rights watchdog estimates 30,000 people are held in Iraqi jails,

Washington: A man shot dead five people Saturday in a park in the US state of Kentucky before turning the weapon on himself, Xinhua reported. The attack took place around 11.35 a.m. in a trailer park in Mount Carmel community. The assailant was armed with a shotgun. Police found the

NEW YORK: President Barack Obama told a deeply polarized America on Saturday that Islam is not the enemy as ceremonies took place to mark an unusually tense, ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.Moving remembrance ceremonies were held to honor the nearly 3,000 people killed when Islamist

NEW YORK: Remembrance ceremonies, marred by global tensions over a Florida pastor`s threat to burn the Koran, were to take place Saturday in New York and at the Pentagon on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.The rituals honoring the nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11, 2001,

JOHANNESBURG: A Johannesburg court has blocked a South African businessman from burning Bibles on Saturday in response to a Florida pastor`s threat to burn the Koran, a local newspaper said.The Johannesburg High Court issued an urgent interdict late Friday blocking Mohammed Vawda from

Washington/New York: After a day of flip-flops, a Florida pastor, who earned international headlines and censure after threatening to burn copies of the Quran on the 9/11 anniversary Saturday, "has agreed in principle" not to go ahead with the controversial event.Pastor Terry Jones