ROME - Two teenagers from the suburbs of Rome have become Italy`s newest media heroines after their slang-filled account of a day at the beach shot from a minor item on the local news to become a YouTube sensation. Debora and Romina have featured in TV news bulletins

NEW DELHI - The Indian government is planning to create a $11-billion debt fund to bridge a funding shortfall and ease the financing of power sector projects, Mint newspaper reported on Tuesday citing a government official."The fund is in the process of being formulated," the paper quoted

KHARTOUM - Britain wants to boost its trade links with Sudan despite US sanctions and the international arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir over the Darfur conflict, a British minister said on Monday."One of our top priorities is to increase trade with different countries around

WASHINGTON - The White House warned BP on Monday that any decision to replace under-fire CEO Tony Hayward would not change its obligation to clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and compensate victims."The CEO of BP ... if he makes the decision for him to leave -- that is one thing,"

LONDON - BP Plc is expected to install an American known for diplomacy as chief executive, replacing Tony Hayward who has come under fire for his gaffe-prone handling of the worst oil spill in U.S. history.Bob Dudley, the U.S. executive managing BP`s response to the spill in the Gulf of

SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela - Venezuela said it beefed up its troop presence along the border with Colombia as its neighbor`s incoming finance minister vowed on Monday to restore trade between the feuding Andean nations.Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez broke off diplomatic ties with Colombia

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon said on Monday it was launching a manhunt to find whoever leaked tens of thousands of classified documents on the war in Afghanistan, one of the largest security breaches in U.S. military history.U.S. defense officials said the person behind the release of some

AMMAN - South Korea on Monday loaned energy-poor Jordan 70 million dollars to help build the kingdom`s first nuclear research reactor, a project worth 130 million dollars."Building the reactor is key to Jordan`s peaceful nuclear programme," planning minister Jaafar Hassan told reporters

At least five people were wounded in Baghdad on Monday when a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle by the offices of the Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya television channel, the interior ministry said.The bomber struck during the morning near the television`s bureau in the city centre, wounding five

LOS ANGELES - American rock band Kings of Leon said they were forced to abandon a concert in St. Louis at the weekend after three songs because pigeons kept pooping on them from the rafters. The band left the stage at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on Friday after bass player Jared

MANILA: Philippine President Benigno Aquino is set to outline a broad blueprint for solving his nation`s economic and graft problems on Monday when he delivers his first State of the Nation address. Aquino, who took over from the highly unpopular Gloria Arroyo last month, was also

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia`s UN-backed war crimes court on Monday gives its verdict on the Khmer Rouge prison chief, in a step towards justice for the "Killing Fields" atrocities more than three decades ago. Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, used his trial to apologise for his role in the

CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened on Sunday to cut off oil supplies to the United States if it supports a Colombian military attack on Venezuela and warned Washington to stay out of the crisis. Chavez broke off diplomatic relations with Bogota on Thursday in response

WELLINGTON: A New Zealand teenager has survived a 16-storey fall from his family`s Auckland apartment and is expected to make a full recovery, the New Zealand Herald reported Monday. The 15-year-old was in a stable condition in hospital with a broken wrist, broken rib, gouged leg and

DUISBURG: Angry survivors demanded answers on Sunday and prosecutors launched an inquiry after a panicked stampede at a techno music festival in Germany killed 19 people and left hundreds hurt. The German-born Pope Benedict XVI and Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed their horror over

SEOUL: South Korea and the United States plan to stage anti-submarine drills Monday on the second day of a major naval exercise aimed at deterring North Korea, an official said. About 20 ships including a US aircraft carrier, 200 aircraft and 8,000 military personnel launched the

PESHAWAR: Two separate US drone attacks on Sunday killed at least eight militants in Pakistan`s lawless tribal belt known as a headquarters of Al-Qaeda, officials said. The first attack hit a compound in Shaktoi area in South Waziristan, followed hours later by another in neighbouring

PARIS: Increasing numbers of southeast Asian men, particularly in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are marrying foreigners because fewer women in their homelands are willing to wed, a new study said Monday. The phenomenon, which dates back more than a decade, has even created a detectable

WASHINGTON: The White House denounced a massive leak of secret military files Sunday that allegedly describe how Pakistan`s spy service aids the Afghan insurgency, but said the information was no surprise. In all, some 92,000 documents were released by the web whistleblower Wikileaks,

KABUL - The Taliban said on Sunday they were holding prisoner one of two U.S. soldiers who strayed into territory controlled by the insurgents, and that the other had been killed.The Taliban leadership would decide later on the fate of the captive, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid