AMSTERDAM:  Dutch police Monday arrested two men on a US flight whose luggage reportedly contained box cutters, knives, and a cellphone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle.ABC News reported that the pair were charged with "preparing a terrorist attack," but Dutch airport police would say only

MOSCOW:  Scandals involving police crime are becoming more and more frequent in Russia -- kidnapping, murder, torture and corruption among them -- casting doubts on President Dmitry Medvedev`s ability to reform the tainted force.In the latest incident, four Moscow policemen were arrested

WASHINGTON: The US government on Monday slapped sanctions on four people and eight organizations accused of aiding North Korea`s government through illicit trade, the Treasury Department said.President Barack Obama issued an order freezing assets and imposing travel bans, as Washington

MEXICO CITY: Mexican authorities on Monday announced the capture of one of the country`s most sought after drug kingpins, US-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal, known as "the Barbie" for his fair complexion.Valdez was detained in a police operation in central Mexico, following intelligence work

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama marks the symbolic date of the end of US combat operations in Iraq on Tuesday, seven years after an invasion he opposed and at a time when the country still seems far from being stabilized.Speaking from the Oval Office, Obama will address Americans in a

New Delhi: The civil nuclear liability bill was passed by Indian parliament Monday, marking the culmination of one of the most contentious and widely debated pieces of legislation that saw prolonged discussions between the government and the opposition to ensure its smooth passage.The

ROME: Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi`s visit to Rome to mark the second anniversary of a friendship treaty with former coloniser Italy stumbled into controversy Monday after he said Europe should convert to Islam.Kadhafi made the comments on Sunday during a lecture to a group of 500 young

CARACAS: Venezuela on Monday exhumed the remains of two sisters of independence hero Simon Bolivar, hoping to compare DNA samples obtained from them to remains believed to belong to the Latin American leader. The country exhumed what is believed to be Bolivar`s body in July, with

LONDON:  Britain must have a foreign policy "with a conscience" and try to inspire other countries with "our values", Foreign Secretary William Hague said Tuesday.In an article in The Daily Telegraph newspaper, he said Britain should lobby its "oldest and staunchest allies", as well as

SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard pledged on Tuesday to work towards a minority government and rejected a quick return to the polls after national elections failed to produce a clear winner.Gillard, in her first major speech since the August 21 election weekend, outlined a

Beijing: Beijing has urged parents to register the birth of their second child before Nov 1 -- if they don`t, they will be liable to pay fines, a media report said Monday.China`s family planning policies encourages urban residents to limit their family size to one child.Families who

COLOMBO:  Sri Lanka`s cabinet on Monday backed changing the constitution to allow President Mahinda Rajapakse to run for office for a third term, opening the way for a vote in parliament.Rajapakse, who oversaw the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels last year after decades of civil war, has

ISLAMABAD: Flood-striken Pakistan urgently needs more international aid to combat potential instability and extremism, a U.S. official said, as hunger and disease threaten millions of victims.In an commentary published in Monday`s International Herald Tribune, Senator John Kerry wrote

COPIAPO: Chile`s 33 trapped miners spoke for the first time with their loved ones, reassuring each other in brief but moving conversations by radio-telephone after 24 days underground."To hear his voice was a balm to my heart," said Jessica Chille after speaking to her husband, Dario

PATNA: Maoist guerrillas killed six policemen in a gunfight in India`s eastern state of Bihar, police said on Monday, in the latest of a series of rebel attacks on security forces.More than 150 Maoists battled with the police, who were on patrol in forests about 150 kilometres (100 miles)

LISBON: Many parents give their children too large or frequent doses of non-prescription medicines for fever, coughs and colds, putting their health at risk, according to an Australian study released Monday."Many children are being put at risk by parents’ over-use of widely-available

Quito: At least 42 people were killed and 11 injured Sunday in Ecuador when a bus carrying 53 passengers fell off a cliff, the Ecuadorian Red Cross said.The accident occurred Sunday morning in the Andean region of Ecuador, Xinhua reported.Most of the injured were in serious conditions and

MOSCOW: Nine elderly people died and one was injured Monday when flames swept through a retirement home in the Tver region northwest of Moscow, a local official of the emergencies ministry said, quoted by Russian news agencies.The fire broke out at 0105 GMT in the retirement home in the

SEOUL: A convoy believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il arrived at a train station in the Chinese industrial city of Harbin on Monday during his prolonged surprise trip to China, a report said.A convoy of 35 cars believed to be carrying Kim and his entourage left Tai Yang

RAMALLAH:  Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on television on Sunday Israel would be to blame if resumed direct talks with Israel failed over the Jewish settlements issue."I have to say, and we told all parties including the United States before accepting renewed talks, that the