VINEYARD HAVEN: Three days before the official end of the US combat mission in Iraq, US President Barack Obama said Saturday that the war in the country was "ending" and called Iraq a "sovereign" nation free to determine its own destiny."On Tuesday, after more than seven years, the United

BEIJING: At least four Tibetans may have been killed and 30 others hurt when Chinese police fired on crowds protesting the expansion of mine operations blamed for environmental damage, a report said Saturday.The shooting occurred August 17 in a remote region of southwestern China`s

TEHRAN:  Three people, including two children, have been killed and 40 others injured in an earthquake which struck Iran`s biggest desert, Dasht-e Kavir, state television reported on Saturday.The 5.9 magnitude quake struck on Friday south of the northern city of Damghan.In a separate

MOGADISHU: At least 11 civilians were killed late Friday or overnight in fresh fighting in Mogadishu between Islamist insurgents and government forces, officials and witnesses said."Many people died yesterday in our neighbourhood: six civilians were killed in a mortar blast and three

KARACHI: Flood waters threatened to engulf two towns in southern Pakistan on Saturday, a month after the disaster began, as the United Nations warned that tens of thousands of children risked death from malnutrition.The floods are Pakistan`s worst-ever natural disaster in terms of the

BEIJING: China said on Saturday that military ties with India remained on track, despite a visa row that some reports said led to a freeze in defence contacts between the two big neighbours with sometimes testy relations.An Indian defence source and some Indian news media said on Friday

MIAMI: Hurricane Danielle weakened to a Category 3 storm on Saturday, as the season`s first major hurricane churned over the open Atlantic Ocean, the U.S. National Hurricane Centre said.Danielle, located some 345 miles (560 km) southeast of Bermuda, had top sustained winds of 120 miles

WASHINGTON: The United States, looking for a diplomatic breakthrough on the Korean Peninsula, has begun weighing a fresh effort at engagement with the government of North Korea, The New York Times reported.Citing unnamed officials and analysts, the newspaper said a new overture to

CIUDAD VICTORIA, August 28, 2010 (AFP) - An official probing the massacre of 72 migrants in northeast Mexico went missing along with a police officer as more bodies were identified and two car bombs shook the region Friday.The official, Roberto Suarez, was one of the first people to find

PESHAWAR: Suspected militants attacked army buildings near the US consulate in Pakistan`s northwestern capital Peshawar on Saturday, police said.Police said a number of armed fighters tried to get into a secure area close to the consulate and army buildings early in the morning and that

PANAMA CITY: Eighteen nations on Friday wrapped up nearly two weeks of military exercises to defend the Panama Canal from mock terrorist attacks and other threats, the US Southern Command chief said.Sponsored by the United States, Panama and Chile -- the three top users of the canal --

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il appeared to be heading home from China Saturday, with Beijing`s diplomatic and financial support for an eventual handover of power to his son, news reports said.Kim left a hotel in northeastern China on Saturday where he is believed to have met

PESHAWAR: A US drone strike Saturday killed four militants in Pakistan`s northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border, security officials said.The strike hit Shahidano village in Kurram tribal district, 100 kilometres (62 miles) southwest of Peshawar."Four militants have been killed in

WASHINGTONL: The US aid chief said Friday he faced a threat when visiting a relief camp in flood-hit Pakistan but pledged that extremists would not deter assistance.Rajiv Shah, administrator of the US Agency for International Development, said he quickly exited the camp he was touring the

KABUL: About two dozen Taliban militants -- including suicide bombers -- were killed Saturday in a failed attempt to storm two US-run bases in a volatile town in eastern Afghanistan, NATO said.The alliance said that its troops had "repelled two failed attacks at bases in Khost", killing a

WASHINGTON: A Somali man pleaded guilty Friday to taking part in an armed attack on a US warship off the Horn of Africa in April and will likely face 30 years in prison, the Department of Justice said.Jama Idle Ibrahim appeared before a judge in Norfolk, Virginia, in relation to the April

KIGALI: Rwanda accused the United Nations on Friday of trying to deflect attention from its own failures by leaking a draft report accusing Kigali of war crimes in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.The report, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, says Rwandan Tutsi commanders and

WASHINGTON, August 27, 2010 (AFP) - US President Barack Obama congratulated Kenya Friday on its new constitution but said he was "disappointed" Nairobi had hosted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, a suspected war criminal."This historic approval and signing of the constitution is an

MANAGUA: Floods and landslides have killed at least 34 dead and affected some 84,000 people in Nicaragua this rainy season, which began on May 15, officials said Friday.Of those killed, 23 died in August, Army Colonel Nestor Solis told local media.This week alone has seen eight people

Nairobi: Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki Friday signed into law a long-awaited new constitution, weeks after it was passed in a national referendum.A massive crowd gathered to watch the president sign the document, which is part of a reform process aimed at preventing a repeat of the