MANILA: Nearly 7,000 American and Filipino troops began annual military exercises on that will include combat drills near disputed South China Sea waters. US and Philippine officials stressed that China, which in the past has protested military exercises involving American forces near the contested region, was not an imaginary target…
SANTIAGO, CHILE: A strong magnitude-6.7 earthquake shook central Chile late on prompting authorities to order a preventative evacuation of a stretch of coastline and causing hundreds of people in the capital to flee buildings in panic. There were no immediate of damage or deaths, but the quake was felt for…
KABUL: Afghan president Hamid Karzai said that a coordinated Taliban attack showed a “failure” by Afghan intelligence and especially by Nato, as heavy street fighting between insurgents and security forces came to an end after 18 hours. Battles which broke out at gripped the city’s central districts through the night,…
BEIJING: China has endorsed the strongly worded UN Security Council statement condemning the botched rocket launch by its close ally North Korea and called for more dialogue and consultations. The UN Security Council statement was a result of consultations by all members of the body and reflects the basic consensus…
SYDNEY: Australia expects to pull most of its troops out of Afghanistan nearly a year earlier than planned, the prime minister announced saying Australian soldiers have nearly completed their mission to transfer security responsibilities to Afghan forces in the decade-long war. Prime Minister Julia Gillard cited security improvements and the…
WASHINGTON: A new report says more than 150,000 North Koreans are incarcerated in a Soviet-style, hidden gulag despite the communist government’s denial it holds political prisoners. The report released by the US-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea is based on interviews with 60 former prisoners and guards. It…
TEHRAN (IRAN): Iran can manage its economy even without crude exports, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed as Tehran cut off oil sales to Greece, the third European nation to be hit by an Iranian retaliatory measure ahead of EU’s oil embargo. Iran had warned in February that it may extend an…
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s Maoists, their weapons and the seven camps they are living in came under the command of the Nepal army as the country’s five-year-old peace process neared conclusion. “The process of bringing the Maoist rebels under the command of the army has begun,” said Nepal army spokesman Ramindra Chettri.…
SEOUL: A Korean Air passenger jet made an emergency landing at a Canadian military airbase after a call centre in the United States received a threat by telephone, the airline said. Korean Air flight 72, which was en route to South Korean capital Seoul, diverted to the Comox base on…
JAKARTA, INDONESIA: Indonesia issued a tsunami warning after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 8.9 hit waters off westernmost Aceh province. People on Twitter said tremors were felt in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and India. High-rise apartments and offices on Malaysia’s west coast shook for at least a minute. The…
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