SYDNEY: Australia`s newly elected Prime Minister Julia Gillard pledged to serve a full term after scraping back into power but her fragile coalition was immediately at odds over a major new tax Wednesday.Welsh-born Gillard, who cobbled together a one-seat majority helped by three

WASHINGTON: NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said ahead of talks with President Barack Obama Tuesday that he hoped US-led troops would begin handing over responsibility to Afghan security forces sometime next year.The secretary-general said he expected the transatlantic alliance would

GUATEMALA CITY: The toll from the heaviest rains in living memory in Guatemala and Mexico rose above 50 on Tuesday, as Guatemalan officials called off the search for 15 more corpses over safety fears.Mexican authorities said three workers cleaning a drainage system in the center of the

CHRISTCHURCH: New Zealand authorities extended a state of emergency in quake-hit Christchurch Wednesday after the most damaging aftershock since a powerful weekend quake.The 5.0-magnitude aftershock struck just below the surface at 7:49 am (1949 GMT Tuesday) sending frightened residents

SEOUL: South Korea plans to announce sanctions on Iran later Wednesday, a foreign ministry official said, as a news report said the local branch of an Iranian bank was likely to face a two-month suspension. "We plan to announce the sanctions this afternoon," the official told AFP on

BEIJING: China on Tuesday hailed Myanmar as a "friendly neighbour" and warned the world not to meddle in its upcoming election, as the head of the country`s military junta arrived for a state visit.Than Shwe, whose regime has drawn international condemnation for its human rights record

KOLKATA: A strike called by trade unions in India on Tuesday to protest against rising prices and alleged anti-labour policies crippled life in the east and south of the country in Communist-ruled states.Most other areas were largely unaffected by the protest which came nearly two months

Dubai: A Dubai court has ruled that marriage officiants in the emirate have legal authority to solemnize marriage contracts between Muslims regardless of their nationalities.Head of family court Judge Salem Obaid Othman passed the ruling Monday.The system earlier in force in Dubai did not

TOKYO: Suicides and depression cost the Japanese economy almost 32 billion dollars last year on top of their human toll, the government said Tuesday, the first time it released such an estimate.Welfare payments and medical costs for the depressed, the lost incomes of those in care and

KATHMANDU: Nepal`s parliament will Tuesday make its seventh attempt to elect a new prime minister and end a stalemate that has held up vital government spending and threatened the fragile peace process.The country has been without a government since June 30, when former prime minister

VIENNA: Iran is pushing ahead with its nuclear program in defiance of tougher sanctions and is hampering the U.N. atom watchdog`s work by barring some inspectors, the IAEA says in a new report.A confidential International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report, obtained by Reuters on Monday,

America: President Barack Obama has called for a new comprehensive infrastructure plan as part of efforts to to jump-start the spluttering US economy.The plan will invest about $50bn (£32.5bn) in roads, railways and airports as well as high-speed rail and the creation of an

PARIS: The son of an Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery said Monday that he fears she will be executed shortly after this week`s end to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani`s 22-year-old son Sajjad Mohammadi Ashtiani was speaking by

Jerusalem: The current owner of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden`s former house in Jerusalem has said he will consider selling it to him if he makes an offer, Xinhua reported Monday."This is a historic house, and to this day I have not talked about it with anybody," current owner Mu`in

Islamabad: In order to restore peace in the country, the Pakistan government should immediately hold a dialogue with the "Pakistan" Taliban on the pattern of the measures being taken by the Afghan government, an editorial in a Pakistani paper said Monday.However, in order to create a

MADRID: Spain`s government Monday rejected a ceasefire by Basque fighters ETA as totally inadequate and demanded it renounce guns and bombs forever in its battle for an independent homeland.The government, opposition, and media were united in their deep scepticism over Sunday`s video

BRUSSELS: The U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan has requested another 2,000 troops for the foreign force fighting the Taliban insurgency, despite waning support for the war in troop-contributing nations, NATO officials said.NATO officials said the request by General David Petraeus to

CANBERRA: Australia`s agonizing wait for a new government is expected to finally end on Tuesday, with independent lawmakers holding the balance of power in parliament due to decide their allegiances later in the day.Prime Minister Julia Gillard`s Labor Party is narrowly favored to win the

Sydney: Pieter Wessels, president of the Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) in Australia and a long-time member of the CJA international executive committee, is dead. He was 71, authorities said.Wessels died of bone cancer in a Sydney hospital, CJA headquarters in Toronto

KATHMANDU: Nepal`s Maoist party scrambled Monday to win fresh support for its bid to head the next government, a day ahead of a parliamentary vote on a new prime minister -- the seventh attempt to pick a leader.Six ballots in the 601-member parliament, the last on Sunday, have failed to