HONG KONG : Teeming Hong Kong observed a mournful silence Thursday for eight tourists killed in a Manila bloodbath, after their bodies returned home amid mounting outrage against Philippine authorities.The southern Chinese territory held three minutes of silence with flags lowered to

HONG KONG : Teeming Hong Kong observed a mournful silence Thursday for eight tourists killed in a Manila bloodbath, after their bodies returned home amid mounting outrage against Philippine authorities.The southern Chinese territory held three minutes of silence with flags lowered to

COLOMBO – A Saudi couple tortured their Sri Lankan maid after she complained of a too heavy workload by hammering 24 nails into her hands, legs and forehead, officials said on Thursday.Nearly 2 million Sri Lankans sought employment overseas last year and around 1.4 million, mostly

CANBERRA: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard`s hopes of forming a minority government received a boost on Thursday with "kingmaker" independents criticizing her conservative rival for refusing to meet a key demand.Gillard`s Labor party seems to be ahead in early negotiations to form

TEHRAN: Five rebels and two members of the Revolutionary Guards have been killed in clashes in Iran`s Kordestan province near the Iraqi border, government newspaper Iran reported on Thursday."During clashes in Kordestan`s border area five counter-revolutionaries and two guards were

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said that the country`s widening divide between rich and poor was a factor that encouraged crime and caused difficulties for police.Singh told a conference of police chiefs in New Delhi that national security was being threatened

TEHRAN: Iran has made a proposal to Moscow to jointly produce nuclear fuel for its Russian-built Bushehr plant and future facilities, the head of Iran`s Atomic Energy Organisation was quoted as saying Thursday."We have made a proposal to Russia for the creation of a consortium, licensed

CAIRO: Egypt`s antiquities department announced Wednesday the discovery of a 3,500-year-old settlement in a desert oasis, showing the existence of vibrant desert trade routes that stretched from the Mediterranean down into Sudan from the early days of the Egyptian civilization.The

KOLKATA: The Indian city of Kolkata will mark Thursday the memory of a diminutive nun, born 100 years ago and half a world away, who became a global symbol of compassion for her work with the sick and destitute.Mother Teresa, the "Angel of Mercy," a Nobel peace prize winner and Roman

TOKYO: The former secretary general of Japan`s ruling party, Ichiro Ozawa, said Wednesday he values US democracy but believes Americans are "simple-minded," local media reported."Why is the United States so simple? I like Americans, but they are somewhat like single-cell (organisms),"

NEW YORK: A coalition that includes relatives of victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks staged a demonstration Wednesday in support of a plan to build a mosque near the attack site in lower Manhattan.The group, calling itself "New York Neighbors for American Values," gathered Wednesday

MOSCOW: Russian police have seized thousands of copies of a critical book on the country`s powerful Prime Minister Vladimir Putin penned by an opposition leader, his party said Wednesday.Liberal opposition leader Boris Nemtsov`s book entitled "Putin: the Toll, 10 years," was described by

WASHINGTON: An aide to Afghan President Hamid Karzai who is under investigation for corruption is on the payroll of the Central Intelligence Agency, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.Citing unnamed Afghan and US officials, the newspaper said Mohammed Zia Salehi, the chief of

JERUSALEM: Israel`s firebrand foreign minister on Wednesday played down US hopes, shared by his own prime minister, that peace talks starting in Washington next week would bear fruit within one year.Further putting a damper on a public show of enthusiasm by premier Benjamin Netanyahu and

WASHINGTON: US combat troops pulling out of Iraq can claim the ouster of a brutal dictator as a clear success but otherwise leave behind unresolved questions about democracy, terror and neighboring Iran`s power.With Washington about to declare an official end to the combat mission in Iraq

WASHINGTON: The Pakistani Taliban is planning attacks on foreigners participating in flood relief operations in Pakistan, a US official warned Wednesday."According to information available to the US government, Tehrik-e Taliban plans to conduct attacks against foreigners participating in

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il may have left for China on Thursday in what would be his second trip there this year, a South Korean official said."Judging from circumstances, Chairman Kim might have left for China early Thursday morning," a senior official told AFP on condition of

NEW DELHI: The Indian parliament adopted Wednesday a long-delayed law that will throw open the 150-billion-dollar Indian atomic energy market to foreign private nuclear groups.The law, which has been the subject of fierce wrangling between the government and opposition, is part of a 2008

BAGHDAD: More than a dozen apparently coordinated car bombs targeting Iraqi police and other attacks killed 52 people on Wednesday, just days before the US military officially ends its combat mission here.The trail of bloodshed started in the capital Baghdad before stretching to the north

TEHRAN: Iran has test fired its home-built surface-to-surface Fateh 110 missile, state television reported on Wednesday, less than a week after a similar test was carried out on another missile.State television showed a sand-coloured missile being launched from a vehicle and blasting into