Pacific Islands Forum leaders fly in to discuss climate change, Fiji situation
As last-minute preparation work is being carried out in the small island nation of Niue, heads of the government from guest countries are landing here for the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) summit to be held from Tuesday to Thursday. As a key political and economic policy organization in the Pacific, the 16-member PIF meets annually to develop collective responses to regional issues. When leaders meet this week in the isolated coral atoll thousands of kilometers north-east of New Zealand, c ...
19 Aug 2008 at 8:54pm

65 civilians saved from rebels in S Philippines
Military troops saved 65 people from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels who took hostage some one hundred civilians when retreating from towns they attacked in the country's southern province of Lanao del Norte, a military official said Tuesday. The rebels are retreating towards the hinterlands of Lanao del Norte, moving south and dragging with them some civilians used as human shields, the Philippine News Agency reported, quoting a military official named Hilario Atendido. ...
19 Aug 2008 at 8:55pm

EU hopes for co-op between future Pakistani president, gov't
The European Union's French presidency voiced its hope on Tuesday for cooperation between future Pakistani president and government. "The Presidency of the Council of the European Union has noted this decision" that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf resigned on Monday, the French presidency said in a statement. It "hopes that Pakistan's future president and government can work together to further development and consolidate democracy in Pakistan, with full respect for the insti ...
19 Aug 2008 at 8:57pm

NATO: 10 French soldiers die, 21 injured in clash with militants in Afghanistan
Ten French soldiers of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have been killed and 21 soldiers injured in a clash with about 100 militants in Afghan province of Kabul which started from late Monday afternoon until Tuesday, the ISAF media office confirmed with Xinhua Tuesday. &$&$Source: Xinhua&$&$ ...
19 Aug 2008 at 8:58pm

Turkish president discusses "Darfur" with Sudan's president
Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir discussed "Darfur" at a meeting in the Turkish largest city of Istanbul on Tuesday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported. On July 14, International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo formally requested an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for alleged war crimes in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, which was strongly refuted by the Sudanese government. ...
19 Aug 2008 at 9:03pm

Zambian president dies in Paris
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has died in a military hospital in Paris after being hospitalized for more than a month, Vice President Rupiah Banda said Tuesday. Banda said on television that Mwanawasa died at 10:30 a.m. (0830 GMT) Tuesday. Mwanawasa, who would turn 60 in several months, suffered a stroke on June 29 in Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt, where he was to attend the African Union summit. He was admitted into Sharm-el-Sheik International Hospital and transferred on Jul ...
19 Aug 2008 at 9:05pm

Hamas, PFLP reject deploying Arab forces in Gaza
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)rejected on Tuesday a proposal to deploy Arab security forces in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Ayman Taha, Hamas spokesman in Gaza told reporters that the idea of sending Arab security forces to the Gaza Strip "is rejected and not accepted because the priority is to succeed the comprehensive dialogue first." "If the dialogue among all the Palestinian factions, including Fatah and Ham ...
19 Aug 2008 at 9:06pm

Hamas bans Fatah leaders from leaving Gaza
Hamas authorities decided to prevent any official from Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement from leaving Gaza Strip, sources said on Tuesday. The decision was made after Hamas government, which rules Gaza, accused the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA) of not sending blank passports to the Hamas-controlled Gaza so that the Hamas interior ministry can't issue passports for the people there. "Fatah leaders are barred from traveling unless the problem is resol ...
19 Aug 2008 at 9:07pm

Erekat says they meet with Rice twice a month to review peace talks
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Tuesday that the Palestinian negotiators hold meetings with U.S. Secretary of State once or twice every month to review the peace negotiations with Israel. Erekat told reporters in Ramallah that Rice will arrive in Israel and the Palestinian territories on Aug. 25, adding that on that day Rice will hold talks with the Palestinian negotiation teams. He also said that Rice will join a three-way meeting that will be held in Jerusalem and wi ...
19 Aug 2008 at 9:07pm

Iran to build more nuclear power plants
Iran is preparing to build more nuclear power plants, the official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday. Ahmad Fayyazbakhsh, deputy chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization and head of a state-owned nuclear energy production company said that his company signed an agreement with six local companies, assigning them to hunt for potential sites for new nuclear power plants within 13 months. Construction of the power plants can begin after the finalization of the location of the si ...
19 Aug 2008 at 9:08pm

Report: Olmert to undergo sixth interrogation Friday
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will undergo a sixth interrogation by National Fraud Unit investigators this Friday, local daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday on its website. The interrogation, which will take place Friday morning at Olmert's official residence in Jerusalem, is scheduled to take about two hours, said the report. On August 8th, Olmert was questioned for the fifth time over allegations of corruption since the bribery scandal went public in May. The ...
19 Aug 2008 at 9:10pm

Palestinian factions to hold bilateral meetings with Egyptians next week
Representatives of Palestinian factions will head for Cairo next week to hold bilateral meetings with Egyptian officials over resuming the inter-Palestinian dialogue, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said on Tuesday. Every faction will hold separate talks with the Egyptian officials "to crystallize a view for ending the internal Palestinian crack and making a national reconciliation," the Palestinian sources said. After the two-way meetings end, Egypt will invite the factions to ...
19 Aug 2008 at 9:10pm

Blast near military school in E Algeria kill dozens
A blast occurred at around 7:00 Tuesday morning (0600 GMT) near a military school in the eastern Algerian province of Bumerdes, which for now had left 43 people killed and 38 injured, the official APS news agency quoted an Interior Ministry statement as saying. &$&$Source: Xinhua&$&$ ...
19 Aug 2008 at 9:12pm

Japanese PM to convene Diet session in mid-September
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukudatold reporters Tuesday that he will convene the next Diet session in mid-September, but the opening date will be determined early next week. The decision came after Fukuda held a meeting earlier in the day with government officials and senior members of the coalition bloc. At the meeting, the prime minister raised such issues as economic measures, the refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, and consumer policy that should be discussed in the nex ...
19 Aug 2008 at 9:58pm

Sri Lanka PM says troops near rebel headquarters
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake has said that the government troops are nearing the Tamil Tiger headquarters located in the island's north. Addressing an election rally on Tuesday in the southeastern Sabaragamuva province's Kuruwita area, Wickramanayake said, "My friends, our forces would soon take Kilinochchi, although I can't predict a date, it could happen soon". Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu are the two districts in the north where the Liberation Tigers of Ta ...
19 Aug 2008 at 9:59pm

Former Chinese leader Hua Guofeng dies at 87
Became Communist Party chairman in September 1976 after Mao Tsetung was quoted as saying on his death bed: "With you in charge my heart is at ease"
20 Aug 2008 at 7:14am

The perils of Mr. Uribe's success
Success presents Colombia president with a new set of challenges that risk undoing most of his achievements
by Daniel Linsker
20 Aug 2008 at 6:41am

The party's over for Europe: The bear is back
One way or the other, Europe's holiday from serious geopolitics is over
by Edward Luttwak
20 Aug 2008 at 6:23am

Darfur genocide 'non-existent,' Sudan's president says
'There needs to be mass graves. Where are those graves?' Omar al-Bashir says
by C. ONUR ANT
20 Aug 2008 at 5:54am

Monkey eludes dragnet at Tokyo train station
Japanese media have reported several monkey sightings in city recently
by JAY ALABASTER
20 Aug 2008 at 5:46am

Twin car bombings kill 11 in Algeria
Attacks come a day after 43 died in a suicide bombing
by ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU
20 Aug 2008 at 5:34am

U.S., Poland sign missile-defence deal
Agreement has infuriated Russia and further strained Moscow's ties with the West
by VANESSA GERA and MONIKA SCISLOWSKA
20 Aug 2008 at 5:28am

Sarkozy reaffirms commitment to Afghan mission
French President visits military chapel in Kabul where bodies of 10 French soldiers killed in battle lay before they were to be flown home
by JAMEY KEATEN
20 Aug 2008 at 5:18am

Nepal's 'living goddesses' get health care
Description is not available
by GOPAL SHARMA
20 Aug 2008 at 3:42am

Divine rights
Nepal's Supreme Court orders the government to provide health care and education for the country's 'living goddesses'
by GOPAL SHARMA
20 Aug 2008 at 3:42am