WASHINGTON: The United States said Friday that it considered an Al-Qaeda-affiliated gang in North Africa to be a "common threat" after French-backed Mauritanian forces launched a deadly raid.State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the United States was not involved in the desert

UNITED NATIONS: The UN said Friday that groups seeking to deliver aid to Gaza should send it by land, after Israel said it would prevent two ships seeking to break a blockade of the Palestinian enclave."There are established routes for supplies to enter by land. That is the way aid should

MANILA: Three major quakes measuring between magnitude 7.3 and 7.4 hit the southern Philippines early Saturday, seismologists said, but there were no reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued.The underwater quakes struck at a depth of between 575 and 605 kilometres (350 and 375

SEOUL: North Korea on Saturday threatened a "powerful nuclear deterrence" in response to joint US-South Korean naval exercises starting this weekend, Pyongyang`s state media said.North Korea was prepared for a "retaliatory sacred war", the North`s National Defence Commission (NDC) said in

NEW DELHI: India and the United States signed an anti-terrorism pact on Friday, a day after Pentagon`s top military officer warned extremists could try and stage fresh attacks on the South Asian country.The India-US Counter Terrorism Cooperation Initiative aims to boost security ties

MANILA - The death toll from a typhoon that struck the Philippines last week has risen to 111, with another 45 people still missing, the government said Friday.The confirmed death toll jumped from 79 after 32 bodies, mainly those of fishermen, were found in recent days, said Benito Ramos,

KATHMANDU:  Nepal`s parliament is set to meet Friday for another attempt at electing a prime minister to fill a three-week political void in the country.After several missed deadlines and an inconclusive session on Wednesday, lawmakers will try to decide on either Maoist leader Pushpa

HANOI - North Korea on Friday vowed a "physical response" to recent measures imposed by the United States in response to the sinking of a South Korean warship."There will be physical response against the steps imposed by the United States, militarily. It is no longer the 19th century

SEOUL:  North Korea`s "loving" leader Kim Jong-Il sent the air force to rescue dozens of people trapped by flash floods after heavy rain this week, Pyongyang`s official media reported Friday. A Korean Central Television broadcast, monitored by the South`s Yonhap news agency, said 28

CIUDAD JUAREZ:  Eight hitmen were killed in a shootout with scores of soldiers in a mountainous area of northern Mexico, after gunfights virtually shut down a city on the Texas border, officials said Thursday. "A group of 100 soldiers and 60 drug traffickers clashed in the Tarahumara

  BEIRUT:  Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that he expected members of his party to be charged by a UN court probing the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, warning he stood ready for such a scenario. "I was personally informed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri before his

NOUAKCHOTT:  Mauritanian troops attacked the base of an Al-Qaeda affiliate, killing several "terrorists," a Mauritanian official said Friday, without confirming whether the move sought to free a French hostage. "The operation which targeted a terrorist base is complete," the source

SEOUL: The United States plans to freeze some 100 overseas bank accounts believed linked to illicit North Korean transactions, South Korean media reports said Friday. "The assets in those accounts are likely to be money (leader) Kim Jong-Il needs to operate his regime, so this will deal

TAIPEI: A top Chinese negotiator is set to visit Taiwan next month, an official said Friday, his first visit since he was mobbed and shoved to the ground by a pro-independence crowd on the island. Zhang Mingqing will attend an academic forum in Taipei and plans to meet his Taiwanese

CARACAS: President Hugo Chavez called an emergency Defense Council meeting overnight Thursday, after cutting ties with Colombia over accusations Venezuela was harboring hundreds of leftist rebels. The "extraordinary" council meeting on national security matters included Vice President

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Thursday gave army chief General Ashfaq Kayani three more years in the top job, saying the country had reached a vital stage in the battle against militants. The premier said that the decision to give the extension to the 58-year-old

SEOUL: North Korea`s military held a second round of talks Friday with the US-led United Nations Command about the sinking of a South Korean warship, a Command spokesman said. The meeting at the border truce village of Panmunjom began days after Washington announced plans for new

SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was heckled by rowdy protesters on Friday as she delayed action on climate change to consult a "citizens assembly", in a major announcement before elections. Security staff tackled one demonstrator to the ground and led him away in

HANOI:  Asia-Pacific`s biggest security dialogue opened in Vietnam on Friday with the United States and South Korea seeking a statement condemning North Korea over the sinking of a South Korean warship in March. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to ask China to do more

SANAA:  Fresh clashes between Shiite Huthi rebels and army-backed tribes in north Yemen killed 20 people, a tribal official said Thursday, bringing to at least 69 the death toll in five days of fighting that has rattled a fragile truce. "Violent clashes took place overnight between