BOGOTA: Twelve people were wounded Wednesday when a bomb exploded outside the Colombian intelligence agency`s offices in the southern city of Pasto, near the Ecuadoran border, the Red Cross said. A "low-intensity package bomb was left outside the Administrative Department of Security

SRINAGAR: Police in Indian Kashmir on Wednesday arrested a leading separatist who has been spearheading months of protests in the disputed Muslim-majority region.Syed Ali Geelani, who heads a hardline faction of the main separatist alliance, told reporters in Srinagar before he was taken

MIRANSHAH: Two US missile strikes in Pakistan`s tribal district on the Afghan border killed at least 14 rebels on Wednesday, local security officials said.The first attack took place in Dandey Darpakhel village, five kilometres (three miles) northwest of Miranshah, the main town in North

AKOLA: With hurling of footwear against politicians increasingly gaining ground as a mode of protest, students wearing chappals were denied entry for an interaction with Rahul Gandhi at a local college today.Securitymen and officials turned away chappal-wearing students wanting to take

WASHINGTON: US diplomatic chief Hillary Clinton late Tuesday joined the general condemnation in the United States of a Florida pastor`s "disrespectful" plans to burn hundreds of Korans on the anniversary of 9/11."I am heartened by the clear, unequivocal condemnation of this disrespectful,

BEIJING: Myanmar`s junta leader Than Shwe was to meet Wednesday with President Hu Jintao of China, the regime`s main trading partner and diplomatic ally, two months ahead of polls decried in the West as a sham.Than Shwe, whose regime has drawn international condemnation for its human

MANILA: A powerful Muslim politician went on trial Wednesday, accused of murdering 57 people in the worst political massacre in the Philippines, AFP reporters in the courtroom said.The first witness, a man named Lakmudin Saliao, climbed onto the stand after lower court judge Jocelyn Reyes

SYDNEY: Australia`s newly elected Prime Minister Julia Gillard pledged to serve a full term after scraping back into power but her fragile coalition was immediately at odds over a major new tax Wednesday.Welsh-born Gillard, who cobbled together a one-seat majority helped by three

WASHINGTON: NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said ahead of talks with President Barack Obama Tuesday that he hoped US-led troops would begin handing over responsibility to Afghan security forces sometime next year.The secretary-general said he expected the transatlantic alliance would

GUATEMALA CITY: The toll from the heaviest rains in living memory in Guatemala and Mexico rose above 50 on Tuesday, as Guatemalan officials called off the search for 15 more corpses over safety fears.Mexican authorities said three workers cleaning a drainage system in the center of the

CHRISTCHURCH: New Zealand authorities extended a state of emergency in quake-hit Christchurch Wednesday after the most damaging aftershock since a powerful weekend quake.The 5.0-magnitude aftershock struck just below the surface at 7:49 am (1949 GMT Tuesday) sending frightened residents

SEOUL: South Korea plans to announce sanctions on Iran later Wednesday, a foreign ministry official said, as a news report said the local branch of an Iranian bank was likely to face a two-month suspension. "We plan to announce the sanctions this afternoon," the official told AFP on

BEIJING: China on Tuesday hailed Myanmar as a "friendly neighbour" and warned the world not to meddle in its upcoming election, as the head of the country`s military junta arrived for a state visit.Than Shwe, whose regime has drawn international condemnation for its human rights record

KOLKATA: A strike called by trade unions in India on Tuesday to protest against rising prices and alleged anti-labour policies crippled life in the east and south of the country in Communist-ruled states.Most other areas were largely unaffected by the protest which came nearly two months

Dubai: A Dubai court has ruled that marriage officiants in the emirate have legal authority to solemnize marriage contracts between Muslims regardless of their nationalities.Head of family court Judge Salem Obaid Othman passed the ruling Monday.The system earlier in force in Dubai did not

TOKYO: Suicides and depression cost the Japanese economy almost 32 billion dollars last year on top of their human toll, the government said Tuesday, the first time it released such an estimate.Welfare payments and medical costs for the depressed, the lost incomes of those in care and

KATHMANDU: Nepal`s parliament will Tuesday make its seventh attempt to elect a new prime minister and end a stalemate that has held up vital government spending and threatened the fragile peace process.The country has been without a government since June 30, when former prime minister

VIENNA: Iran is pushing ahead with its nuclear program in defiance of tougher sanctions and is hampering the U.N. atom watchdog`s work by barring some inspectors, the IAEA says in a new report.A confidential International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report, obtained by Reuters on Monday,

America: President Barack Obama has called for a new comprehensive infrastructure plan as part of efforts to to jump-start the spluttering US economy.The plan will invest about $50bn (£32.5bn) in roads, railways and airports as well as high-speed rail and the creation of an

PARIS: The son of an Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery said Monday that he fears she will be executed shortly after this week`s end to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani`s 22-year-old son Sajjad Mohammadi Ashtiani was speaking by