KARACHI: Pakistan`s beleaguered authorities braced for a deluge in the country`s farming heartland, evacuating half a million people from at-risk areas in the south as the worst floods in living memory worsened. The overall number of people affected by the two-week-old crisis has risen

ZAMBOANGA: Two people were killed and 24 injured in a bomb attack on an airport in the southern Philippines, police said Friday. The man believed to be carrying the bomb was killed instantly and a bystander died later, said Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo, police chief of the

SRINAGAR: At least 60 people have been killed and hundreds injured after heavy rain triggered flash floods in Leh, the main town in India Kashmir`s high-altitude Ladakh region, officials said Friday.The floods tore though the town and surrounding villages without warning during the night

SEOUL: A major South Korean naval exercise designed to strengthen defences against North Korean attacks went into a second day Friday, as the communist North bristled over the drill.   The exercise is one of a series planned in coming months in response to what the South says was a

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered a hand-picked team to review two Western-backed anti-corruption bodies, the country`s attorney general said Thursday. "A presidential decree was issued so that all aspects of their formation, framework, working procedures must be reviewed

TEHRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran is working on a three-stage rocket to carry a satellite 1,000 kilometres (more than 600 miles) into space, Fars news agency reported on Thursday. "The country`s scientists are working on a three-stage rocket that will take us to 1,000

HONG KONG: Hong Kong`s richest man said Thursday he would donate more generously to charities, but stopped short of following the 40 US billionaires who pledged to give at least half of their fortunes away. Li Ka-shing, who has amassed his estimated 21.3 billion US dollar fortune by

MUZAFFARABAD: At least 22 people were killed on Thursday when a passenger bus plunged into a river in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, officials said. The accident took place in Garhi Dupatta village, 22 kilometres (14 miles) east of regional capital Muzaffarabad, senior local

ZAMBOANGA: One person was killed and at least 12 others were injured when a bomb exploded at an airport in the restive southern Philippines on Thursday, authorities said. An improvised explosive device (IED) caused the blast near the arrivals area of Zamboanga airport, regional police

TOKYO: United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday called for the total elimination of nuclear weapons, during a visit to Nagasaki, one of the two Japanese cities hit by US atom bombs in World War II. "The only way to ensure that such weapons will never again be used is to eliminate

GENEVA: Pakistan`s worst floods in generations brought on by torrential monsoon rains have affected more than four million people and killed some 1,600, the United Nations estimated Thursday. "Altogether, more than four million people are in a way or another affected," said Manuel

NOVO POKROVKA: Kyrgyz police Friday fired in the air to disperse 2,000 anti-government protestors rallying at a roadblock outside Bishkek to support a renegade businessman. Hundreds of members of the security forces were repeatedly firing in the air to disperse the protestors at the

BISHKEK: More than one thousand protestors gathered outside Kyrgyzstan`s parliament in the capital Bishkek on Thursday, demanding a meeting with the ex-Soviet state`s interim government.The demonstrators -- supporters of businessman and political leader Urmat Baryktobasov -- demanded that

BEIJING: Four protesters in Beijing cut off their fingertips and swallowed them in a desperate bid to bring attention to their cause, state media reported Thursday.The men, from the central province of Hunan, travelled to the capital to seek resolution of a dispute with their former

NAIROBI: Supporters of Kenya`s proposed new constitution have mustered twice as many votes as its opponents with more than six million ballots already tallied on Thursday, provisional results showed.No victor was yet declared by the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) but the

ISLAMABAD: The United Nations rushed a top envoy to Pakistan on Thursday to address the urgent plight of 3.2 million people hit by the worst floods in generations as officials warned the crisis was spreading.As the humanitarian disaster pushed into a second week, fears are growing of a

SEOUL: A forum of 100 global business chiefs will be held alongside the next G20 summit to underscore the Group of 20`s role as the top world body for economic cooperation, officials said Thursday.South Korea, which chairs the G20 leaders` meeting on November 11-12 in Seoul, will push to

MAKASSAR: Up to 10 people were feared dead after two cargo ships collided in Indonesian waters, an official and survivors said Thursday.The Trisal Pratama, carrying 2,000 tonnes of cement, sank after it collided with the Indimatam, loaded with scrap metal, in the Makassar Strait early

WASHINGTON: The United States is in advanced negotiations to share nuclear fuel and technology with Vietnam, including a proviso that would allow Hanoi to enrich uranium on its own, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.Congressional critics of the deal say the terms would undercut the

MANILA: The Philippines is suffering a crippling brain drain with many of its most talented and qualified workers heading overseas for higher-paid jobs and better lifestyles, employers say.The shock resignations last week of 25 Philippine Airlines pilots, who left for bigger salaries