SAN JOSE: Sixteen British tourists were stuck Wednesday in a mountain pass in Costa Rica as rough weather kept rescuers from bringing them out, Red Cross officials said.The tourists were climbing in mountains around Santa Maria de Dota, southwest of the capital, on a day trip when a girl

PESHAWAR: Sixteen Shiite Muslims were killed and four wounded Saturday in an apparent sectarian ambush in a remote tribal town in northwest Pakistan, a paramilitary spokesman and local officials said.    The incident took place early Saturday in the Sunni dominated Charkhel area on

SULAIMANIYAH:Guests leapt desperately to their deaths from upper-floor windows as a fire tore through a hotel in northern Iraq killing 30 people, 14 of them foreigners, police and medics said on Friday.Citizens of Australia, Britain, Canada and several Asian and South American countries

MUMBAI - An Indian court has ruled that Hindu gods cannot deal in stocks and shares, reports said Saturday, after an application for trading accounts to be set up in their names.Two judges at the Bombay High Court on Friday rejected a petition from a private religious trust to open

TEHRAN: Iran was Friday probing twin suicide bombings in a crowded Shiite mosque which slaughtered 27 people in an attack a shadowy Sunni rebel group said was to avenge the execution of its militant leader.Thursday night`s bombings, which reportedly targeted members of Iran`s elite

SRINAGAR:  Thousands of protesters poured into the centre of the main city of Indian Kashmir on Thursday after authorities lifted restrictions for the first time in five days. The Muslim-majority region has been wracked by demonstrations since June 11 when security forces were accused

BANGKOK:  Thai police said Thursday they had arrested an anti-government "Red Shirt" who was a close aide to an assassinated rogue general in connection with a series of attacks in Bangkok. Surachai Thewarat, 25, is accused of being involved in incidents including a deadly drive-by

NEW YORK: A suspect in the Russia spy saga cracked after his arrest, confessing he was a Russian agent and pledging greater loyalty to the Kremlin than to his own son, US prosecutors said Thursday.The suspect, who operated under the false identity of Juan Lazaro, also revealed that his

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama`s Democratic allies beat back a stiff anti-war insurrection in their own ranks Thursday as the House of Representatives agreed to fund his Afghanistan troop "surge."A day after General David Petraeus won Senate confirmation as commander of the NATO

NEW YORK: A US judge granted bail with house arrest to one of the Russia spy suspects Thursday but ordered the other nine in custody here, in Boston and Virginia to remain behind bars for the time being.In New York, Judge Ronald Ellis said Vicky Pelaez, a journalist born in Peru but who

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law the toughest ever US sanctions on Iran, which he said would strike at Tehran`s capacity to finance its nuclear program and deepen its isolation.The measures, on top of new UN Security Council and European sanctions, aim to

LAHORE: Pakistan`s cultural capital Lahore was on high alert Friday after two suicide bombers blew themselves up in an Islamic shrine packed with worshippers, killing 42 people and wounding scores more. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Pakistan has been hit by a wave

SEOUL: North Korea angrily rejected Tuesday a statement from world leaders meeting at the G8 summit in Canada which condemned an alleged North Korean torpedo attack that sank a South Korean warship. "We vehemently and totally refute the declaration adopted at the G8 summit held in

BRUSSELS: Europe must follow through on its pledge to impose sanctions on Iran`s energy sector in order to coax Tehran back to the negotiating table over its nuclear activities, a top US diplomat said Tuesday. Robert Einhorn, the US coordinator for Iran sanctions, said he held meetings

CHONGQING: Taiwan and China signed a historic trade pact Tuesday in the boldest step yet towards reconciliation between the former archfoes, 60 years after the civil war that drove them apart. The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, hailed by both sides as a milestone and a

MANILA: Incoming Philippine president Benigno Aquino announced Tuesday he would set up a "truth commission" to investigate the alleged crimes of outgoing leader Gloria Arroyo and her allies. He said the commission would look into a wide range of controversies surrounding Arroyo`s

JERUSALEM: Russia, France and the United States have proposed a UN-brokered meeting with experts from all three countries and Iran to discuss a nuclear fuel swap deal, Russia`s top diplomat said on Tuesday. The talks brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would be held

CHONGQING: Taiwan and China signed a historic trade pact Tuesday in the boldest step yet towards reconciliation between the former archfoes, 60 years after the civil war that drove them apart. The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, hailed by both sides as a milestone and a

  JAKARTA - An Indonesian publisher and Islamist blogger known as the "Prince of Jihad" was sentenced to five years in jail Tuesday for abetting suicide attacks on two luxury hotels in Jakarta last year. Women robed from head-to-toe in black Islamic dress shouted abuse at the judges as

KOLKATA:  Indian Home Ministry has cautioned West Bengal government of a suspected attack on Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata by banned Islamic outfit Harkat-ul Jihad (Huji).      Following a message from the centre, the West Bengal government has taken extra security