BEIJING - China this week staged a large-scale naval and air exercise on its southeast coast, as South Korea and the United States conducted their own naval drill opposed by Beijing, state media said Friday.The live-fire exercises in the South China Sea on Monday also came three days

BEIRUT - Lebanon on Friday hosts a rare summit of regional leaders aimed at defusing tensions over reports of an impending indictment against Hezbollah members for the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.The meeting between Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, Saudi King Abdullah and Syrian

PESHAWAR - The death toll from flash floods and landslides triggered by torrential monsoon rains in Pakistan rose to nearly 200 on Friday as officials reported thousands more displaced.Hundreds of homes and thousands of hectares (acres) of cultivated land have been destroyed in the

NEW DELHI - The real jewel in Britain`s actual crown will not be returning to India, Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday, as he ruled out any repatriation of the famed Kohinoor diamond.The 105 carat gemstone set in the coronation crown of the British royals was mined in the

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama said Thursday he was not invited to Chelsea Clinton`s nuptials -- reasoning the security footprint of two presidents at one wedding would have spoiled the event.Chelsea Clinton, 30, is to marry investment banker Marc Mezvinksy, 32, outside a town in

WASHINGTON - The United States announced Thursday that top officials will fan out starting next week to China, the United Arab Emirates, and other key countries in support of tighter sanctions against Iran."China is of concern to us in this regard," Robert Einhorn, the US State

VILLERS-AU-TERTRE - A French nursing assistant Thursday admitted suffocating eight newborn babies because she did not want more children and wished to avoid seeing a doctor for contraception, a prosecutor said.Dominique Cottrez, 45, was charged with murder Thursday after the new owners of

WASHINGTON, July 29, 2010 (AFP) - US and "senior" Israeli officials were to meet Thursday to discuss the crisis over Iran`s suspect nuclear program and economic sanctions meant to curb it, a senior US diplomat told lawmakers.Robert Einhorn, the US State Department`s special adviser for

COLOMBO - Unidentified attackers set fire to a private television station in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo Friday after smashing editing equipment, police said.About a dozen men stormed the Siyatha television studious in Colombo and exploded a petrol bomb after systematically destroying

NUEVO LAREDO - The bodies of 15 people, many bearing marks of torture and bullet wounds, were found Thursday along a road in northern Mexico near the US border, an official said.The bodies were found on a highway leading from Ciudad Victoria to Matamoros, not far from the US border city

KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday urged his Western allies to destroy Islamist militant sanctuaries in neighbouring Pakistan after thousands of secret US files were leaked."The time has come for our international allies to know that the war against terrorism is not in

SEOUL - North Korea signed a new accord on economic and technical cooperation with China on Thursday, state media said as the impoverished communist country struggles to recharge its faltering economy.The accord was signed in Pyongyang between the North`s foreign trade minister Ri

ANKARA - Iran pledged to halt enriching uranium if world powers agree to a nuclear fuel swap deal it signed with Turkey and Brazil, a newspaper on Thursday quoted Turkey`s foreign minister as saying.The assurance came after Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki held talks with his

COLOMBO:  Sri Lanka`s former army chief and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka was brought before the Colombo High Court on Thursday to answer charges of provoking violence.Fonseka, who already faces two courts martial and two more criminal cases, was taken before a

SEOUL - North Korea`s ailing leader Kim Jong-Il is transferring his secret personal wealth to his youngest son and likely successor, a Seoul-based radio station said Wednesday.The transfer of money has been managed by Ri Chol, who stepped down in April as the communist country`s

WASHINGTON  - An Al-Qaeda group on Wednesday claimed responsibility for this week`s deadly car bomb attack on Al-Arabiya television`s offices in Baghdad that killed four people, US monitors said."The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), the Al-Qaeda-front in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the

SYDNEY - Australia Thursday tightened its sanctions on Iran in a fresh bid to convince Tehran to allay international concerns over its nuclear drive.Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the new measures target more than 100 Iranian groups and companies, and restrict Australian business

MOSCOW - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday signed into a law a bill expanding the powers of the successor to the Soviet-era KGB security service, the Kremlin said in a statement. The bill, criticised by rights groups, would allow the Federal Security Service (FSB) to issue

WASHINGTON: The United States said Wednesday it hoped for high-level talks soon with Iran and five other world powers that like Washington are seeking to curb Tehran`s nuclear ambitions.State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said "we hope to have the same kind of meeting in the coming

VILLERS-AU-TERTRE: French police detained a couple after the bodies of eight new-born babies were found in a house and in the garden of another home in a northern village, officials said Wednesday.Police with sniffer dogs were continuing their search in Villers-au-Tertre after arresting