ASADABAD: An Afghan police commander said Friday that NATO warplanes targeting Taliban insurgents killed six children in a mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan known to be a militant hotbed.The alliance said it was investigating claims that civilians had died following the air strike

MIAMI: Danielle strengthened early Friday into the first major hurricane of the Atlantic season, followed by Tropical Storm Earl which also powered up out at sea, but the pair were still days from landfall, US experts said."Danielle is a Category Three hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson

YALA: Suspected Islamist militants have shot and killed three people including a teacher in separate attacks across Thailand`s restive southern provinces, police said Friday.The 30-year-old teacher, who was also a corporal with the border patrol police, was attacked as he was leaving

CIUDAD VICTORIA: Mexico sought help from Latin American nations Thursday to identify 72 presumed migrants murdered near the US border, after blame for the massacre fell on a brutal drug gang.Diplomats from Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador and Brazil arrived in the northeastern state of

HONG KONG: Tens of thousands of Hong Kong people are expected at a weekend rally to demand justice for the victims of this week`s hostage bloodbath in Manila, organisers said Friday.In a rare show of unity, Hong Kong`s pro-Beijing and opposition groups will jointly hold the march on

SEOUL: Former US president Jimmy Carter flew out of North Korea Friday after securing the release of an American citizen and a pledge from Pyongyang that it wants to resume nuclear disarmament talks.The Nobel peace laureate left the reclusive communist state with Aijalon Mahli Gomes, an

THATTA: Pakistan has ordered the evacuation of 300,000 people in a southern town after its flood-protection defences were breached."We have ordered people of Thatta city on Thursday night to move to safer places after floods breached an embankment at Faqir Jogoth village," top

Kolkata: Pro-Maoist leader Umakanta Mahato, a prime suspect in the Gyaneswari Express sabotage case, was killed in an encounter with joint security forces in Jhargram area of West Bengal`s West Midnapore district early Friday, a top police official said."Umakanta Mahato has been killed

MANILA: The bullets that killed eight Hong Kong tourists in a Manila siege likely all came from the hijacker holding them captive and not from the police rescue team, a police spokesman said."We can say that with a certain degreee of certainty," Philippine national police spokesman Senior

SEOUL: North Korea`s leader Kim Jong-Il may meet Chinese President Hu Jintao in northeastern China, where Kim arrived earlier, news reports said Friday.A 30-vehicle convoy believed to be carrying Kim pulled up at a hotel in the city of Changchun after driving some 90 minutes from Jilin

NEW DELHI: India has cancelled defence exchanges with China in a new flare-up in relations between the two Asian giants, reports said Friday.The Times of India newspaper said the move by New Delhi was retaliation after Beijing refused a visa to a leading Indian general who oversees

HONG KONG : Teeming Hong Kong observed a mournful silence Thursday for eight tourists killed in a Manila bloodbath, after their bodies returned home amid mounting outrage against Philippine authorities.The southern Chinese territory held three minutes of silence with flags lowered to

HONG KONG : Teeming Hong Kong observed a mournful silence Thursday for eight tourists killed in a Manila bloodbath, after their bodies returned home amid mounting outrage against Philippine authorities.The southern Chinese territory held three minutes of silence with flags lowered to

HONG KONG : Teeming Hong Kong observed a mournful silence Thursday for eight tourists killed in a Manila bloodbath, after their bodies returned home amid mounting outrage against Philippine authorities.The southern Chinese territory held three minutes of silence with flags lowered to

COLOMBO – A Saudi couple tortured their Sri Lankan maid after she complained of a too heavy workload by hammering 24 nails into her hands, legs and forehead, officials said on Thursday.Nearly 2 million Sri Lankans sought employment overseas last year and around 1.4 million, mostly

CANBERRA: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard`s hopes of forming a minority government received a boost on Thursday with "kingmaker" independents criticizing her conservative rival for refusing to meet a key demand.Gillard`s Labor party seems to be ahead in early negotiations to form

TEHRAN: Five rebels and two members of the Revolutionary Guards have been killed in clashes in Iran`s Kordestan province near the Iraqi border, government newspaper Iran reported on Thursday."During clashes in Kordestan`s border area five counter-revolutionaries and two guards were

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said that the country`s widening divide between rich and poor was a factor that encouraged crime and caused difficulties for police.Singh told a conference of police chiefs in New Delhi that national security was being threatened

TEHRAN: Iran has made a proposal to Moscow to jointly produce nuclear fuel for its Russian-built Bushehr plant and future facilities, the head of Iran`s Atomic Energy Organisation was quoted as saying Thursday."We have made a proposal to Russia for the creation of a consortium, licensed

CAIRO: Egypt`s antiquities department announced Wednesday the discovery of a 3,500-year-old settlement in a desert oasis, showing the existence of vibrant desert trade routes that stretched from the Mediterranean down into Sudan from the early days of the Egyptian civilization.The