PESHAWAR: A US drone Saturday fired four missiles into a compound used by Islamist fighters in Pakistan`s northwestern tribal belt, killing at least 11 militants, security officials said.The missiles targeted the compound in Dwasarak village, about 40 kilometres west of Wana, the main

NEW DELHI: Myanmar`s military ruler Than Shwe arrives in India Sunday for a state visit that underscores the growing strategic ties between the world`s largest democracy and one of its most repressive regimes.The red-carpet reception planned for Shwe, who rarely travels abroad, has been

WASHINGTON: The United States said Friday it has upgraded the protocol for the Palestinian mission in Washington in a symbolic show of confidence in president Mahmud Abbas.President Barack Obama`s administration will allow the mission to call itself the "General Delegation of the

MOSCOW: Two separate attacks left three Russian soldiers and a village official dead on Friday in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan, neighbouring Chechnya, the Interfax news agency reported.In the first incident, unknown gunmen opened fire on soldiers belonging to a motorcycle unit in

WASHINGTON: Two US lawmakers -- a Republican and a Democrat -- proposed a bill this week demanding the withdrawal of all US troops in Pakistan, where they are conducting covert operations against militants."We have known that US forces have been operating in secret inside the territories

WASHINGTON: The United States said Friday that it considered an Al-Qaeda-affiliated gang in North Africa to be a "common threat" after French-backed Mauritanian forces launched a deadly raid.State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the United States was not involved in the desert

UNITED NATIONS: The UN said Friday that groups seeking to deliver aid to Gaza should send it by land, after Israel said it would prevent two ships seeking to break a blockade of the Palestinian enclave."There are established routes for supplies to enter by land. That is the way aid should

MANILA: Three major quakes measuring between magnitude 7.3 and 7.4 hit the southern Philippines early Saturday, seismologists said, but there were no reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued.The underwater quakes struck at a depth of between 575 and 605 kilometres (350 and 375

SEOUL: North Korea on Saturday threatened a "powerful nuclear deterrence" in response to joint US-South Korean naval exercises starting this weekend, Pyongyang`s state media said.North Korea was prepared for a "retaliatory sacred war", the North`s National Defence Commission (NDC) said in

NEW DELHI: India and the United States signed an anti-terrorism pact on Friday, a day after Pentagon`s top military officer warned extremists could try and stage fresh attacks on the South Asian country.The India-US Counter Terrorism Cooperation Initiative aims to boost security ties

MANILA - The death toll from a typhoon that struck the Philippines last week has risen to 111, with another 45 people still missing, the government said Friday.The confirmed death toll jumped from 79 after 32 bodies, mainly those of fishermen, were found in recent days, said Benito Ramos,

KATHMANDU:  Nepal`s parliament is set to meet Friday for another attempt at electing a prime minister to fill a three-week political void in the country.After several missed deadlines and an inconclusive session on Wednesday, lawmakers will try to decide on either Maoist leader Pushpa

HANOI - North Korea on Friday vowed a "physical response" to recent measures imposed by the United States in response to the sinking of a South Korean warship."There will be physical response against the steps imposed by the United States, militarily. It is no longer the 19th century

SEOUL:  North Korea`s "loving" leader Kim Jong-Il sent the air force to rescue dozens of people trapped by flash floods after heavy rain this week, Pyongyang`s official media reported Friday. A Korean Central Television broadcast, monitored by the South`s Yonhap news agency, said 28

CIUDAD JUAREZ:  Eight hitmen were killed in a shootout with scores of soldiers in a mountainous area of northern Mexico, after gunfights virtually shut down a city on the Texas border, officials said Thursday. "A group of 100 soldiers and 60 drug traffickers clashed in the Tarahumara

  BEIRUT:  Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that he expected members of his party to be charged by a UN court probing the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, warning he stood ready for such a scenario. "I was personally informed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri before his

NOUAKCHOTT:  Mauritanian troops attacked the base of an Al-Qaeda affiliate, killing several "terrorists," a Mauritanian official said Friday, without confirming whether the move sought to free a French hostage. "The operation which targeted a terrorist base is complete," the source

SEOUL: The United States plans to freeze some 100 overseas bank accounts believed linked to illicit North Korean transactions, South Korean media reports said Friday. "The assets in those accounts are likely to be money (leader) Kim Jong-Il needs to operate his regime, so this will deal

TAIPEI: A top Chinese negotiator is set to visit Taiwan next month, an official said Friday, his first visit since he was mobbed and shoved to the ground by a pro-independence crowd on the island. Zhang Mingqing will attend an academic forum in Taipei and plans to meet his Taiwanese

CARACAS: President Hugo Chavez called an emergency Defense Council meeting overnight Thursday, after cutting ties with Colombia over accusations Venezuela was harboring hundreds of leftist rebels. The "extraordinary" council meeting on national security matters included Vice President