WASHINGTON– General David Petraeus, who saved a failing US mission in Iraq, now will try to rescue the faltering war in Afghanistan, after the US Senate confirmed him as the new commander of the allied war effort there.Senate approval Wednesday came just one week after President Barack

ABU DHABI - An Abu Dhabi court on Wednesday sentenced two Chinese Uighurs to 10 years in prison after they were convicted of plotting to attack a Dubai-based Chinese shopping mall` a local newspaper reported."The two Chinese Uighurs accused of plotting to attack the Dragon Mart in Dubai

MOSCOW - Russia`s foreign ministry said Wednesday it expected that a scandal sparked by the arrest of suspected spies would not hurt improving US-Russia ties, a day after slamming the allegations as "groundless.""We expect that the incident connected to the arrest in the United States of

MOSCOW: A major fire broke out Wednesday in Moscow at a building belonging to Russian missile manufacturer Almaz, the maker of air defence weapons including the S-300 missile system, officials said. The fire at the company`s design bureau had spread over an area measuring 800 square

SINGAPORE - Social media such as Facecbook and Twitter or blogging sites have become powerful tools that influence what people buy, online researcher Nielsen said Wednesday, urging business to embrace the trend.Nearly three in four people worldwide who use the Internet have visited a

KOLKATA:  At least 26 CRPF troops were killed and 15 wounded in an attack by Maoists in Chhattisgarh state of India Wednesday--one of the deadliest strikes by the communist rebels in recent times.   Administration officials said a squad of Maoist guerrillas ambushed 70 CRPF troops in

KOLKATA: CPM leader and a former lawmaker of Rajya Sabha Ananda Das was shot dead allegedly by Trinamool activists at Bolpur Block in Birbhum district of West Bengal on Tuesday night, stoking up tensions between the state’s ruling party and its inveterate opposition rival. To protest

MEXICO CITY - A strong magnitude 6.5 quake centered in the southern state of Oaxaca shook Mexico early Wednesday, the US earthquake monitoring service and Mexican seismologists reported. The quake, which struck at 2:22 am (0722 GMT), was powerful enough to shake buildings in Mexico City,

RAIPUR: Paramilitary commandos in central India launched an operation Wednesday to flush out a group of Maoist rebels who killed 26 police officers in a jungle ambush. "The security forces have entered the jungle on a manhunt for the outlawed Maoist commanders and rebels," said Ram

COLOMBO: The Maldives was without an effective government Wednesday, after the cabinet resigned en masse amid a power struggle between President Mohamed Nasheed and the opposition-controlled parliament. The 13-member cabinet quit on Tuesday, saying the majlis, or parliament, was blocking

KABUL: Gunmen set off a car bomb and fired rocket propelled grenades at one of the biggest NATO bases in Afghanistan on Wednesday in an attack claimed by the hardline Islamist Taliban. Several of the attackers were killed in the strike on the Jalalabad base in eastern Afghanistan, but

SRINAGAR: Thousands of Indian troops enforced a strict curfew in parts of Kashmir on Wednesday, after three teenagers were shot dead by security forces, sparking arson and rioting. Six people have been killed in the last four days and 11 in less than three weeks during demonstrations

WELLINGTON: An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 struck south of Fiji Wednesday, the United States Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued. The quake was centred 360 kilometres (220 miles) southwest of Fiji`s southern island of Ndoi and 565 kilometres south of the

CARACAS: Venezuela`s legislature voted Tuesday to nationalize 11 oil rigs owned by the US firm Helmerich & Payne.The rigs, located in Monagas, Anzoategui and Zulia states, will be taken over by state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the official news agency AVN said.PDVSA had

Undated: Veteran broadcaster Larry King has announced that he will be ending his famous show on CNN in the autumn.Over 25 years of the show, King, famous for wearing braces, has conducted more than 40,000 interviews.Larry King Live recently made it into in the Guinness Book of World

MANILA: Benigno Aquino was set to be sworn in as president of the Philippines amid festive celebrations on Wednesday after vowing a new era of clean government for the corruption-wracked nation. Thousands of people wearing the Aquino family`s signature yellow braved stormy weather as

MIAMI: Alex strengthened into the first hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic season Tuesday, US experts said, threatening coastlines in Mexico and the United States and disrupting oil cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. "Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 75 miles (120

PERPIGNAN: French prosecutors said Tuesday they would not press charges against anyone over a 2008 Air New Zealand crash after they received an investigators` report that blamed pilot error.The crew lost control of the Airbus A320 and crashed it -- killing all seven people on board -- as

WASHINGTON: A close aide to Thailand`s ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is seeking US help to resolve the kingdom`s turmoil as he tries to soften the image of the "Red Shirt" protest movement.Noppadon Pattama, a former foreign minister, is on a mission to Washington that

WASHINGTON: General David Petraeus, named as the new commander in Afghanistan, tried to reassure an anxious US Congress Tuesday that NATO-led troops are making headway in the country, amid fraying public support for the war.Petraeus, the United States` most revered military officer, told