SEOUL:  North Korea has started discharging water from one of its dams along the border with South Korea amid high cross-border tensions, reports said Monday.The North has released up to 1,000 tons of water per second from its Hwanggang Dam near the border, the Yonhap news agency

SAINTHIA: A speeding express rammed into the back of a stationary passenger train in eastern India on Monday, killing at least 60 people and trapping others in several badly mangled carriages.The standing train was waiting to leave Sainthia station in Birbhum district, 260 kilometres (160

KABUL - suicide bomber on a bicycle detonated explosives in central Kabul Sunday, injuring up to five people, a government spokesman told AFP."It was a suicide attacker on a bicycle, he was trying to get to a specific area but because of high security the bomber was forced to detonate on

BAGHDAD - Suicide bombers killed 46 people in Iraq on Sunday in two separate attacks targeting anti-Qaeda militiamen that marked the country`s bloodiest day in more than two months, security sources said.Just west of Baghdad, one bomber blew himself up as anti-Qaeda fighters gathered at

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates visit Seoul Wednesday in a show of solidarity amid fresh tensions with North Korea over the sinking of South Korean warship.Clinton and Gates are expected to announce joint naval exercises at the meeting

BEIJING - Police detained a northwestern China mine owner Sunday after 28 workers died in his colliery following a pit fire, the latest in a series of deadly mining accidents, state press said.All 28 miners were killed in the colliery in Shaanxi province after electrical cables caught

CIUDAD JUAREZ: The latest spate of drug-related violence in Mexico left 19 people dead, including five factory workers near the US border and four police officers in Acapulco, officials said Saturday.The Chihuahua state prosecutor said the workers were gunned down when armed men burst

WARSAW: Thousands of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and supporters of equal rights for sexual minorities marched in Poland`s capital Saturday in the first annual EuroPride march in Eastern Europe.The colourful parade wound through Warsaw in sweltering heat of close to 40 degrees Celsius (104

MADRID: Nine more Cuban dissidents recently freed by Havana will arrive in Spain next week, joining 11 other former prisoners already in the country, the Spanish foreign minister said Saturday."Next Tuesday, nine other political prisoners will arrive with 50 members of their family,"

HANOI: Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) expressed "deep concern" at the sinking of a South Korean warship, says a draft document which fails to assign blame."We expressed deep concern over the sinking of (the) ship Cheonan and the rising tension on

BAR HARBOR: US President Barack Obama and his family packed a full day of tennis, swimming and hiking into a weekend getaway in the northeastern state of Maine on Saturday.The Obamas began the day with rounds of tennis and some splashing in the pool, followed by lunch by the waterfront at

LONDON: Four members of Britain`s armed forces have died in southern Afghanistan within 24 hours, the Ministry of Defence in London said Saturday.A marine and two soldiers were killed in separate explosions, while an airman died in a vehicle accident near Camp Bastion, the main British

TEHRAN: Iranian authorities briefly detained the Swiss ambassador to Tehran, Livia Leu Agosti, while she was on a trip three days ago to North Khorasan province, state media reports said on Saturday.Agosti was detained on Wednesday by provincial security forces "because her identity was

LONDON - Two members of Britain`s armed forces have been killed in separate explosions in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in London said Saturday.In the first, a marine from 40 Commando Royal Marines died in an explosion while he was out on foot patrol in the Sangin district of

CANBERRA:  Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Saturday called a general election for August 21, kicking off a bitter campaign battle over asylum seekers, economic management and climate change."Today I seek a mandate from the Australian people to lead Australia forward," she told

KAMATANDA: Barefoot with water up to his knees, seven-year-old Isaac sifts through sand to extract copper like hundreds of boys in southeast DR Congo, forced by poverty to quit school and work in the mines.Isaac abandoned his maths and language classes in February, leaving the only school

CIUDAD JUAREZ: Suspected drug gang members launched a car bomb attack on police in Mexico`s border city of Ciudad Juarez for the first time, killing two police and two medics, a general said Friday.The attack marked an escalation in Mexico`s brutal drug violence, which has left some 7,000

BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday claimed Israel had complete control over Lebanon`s telecom sector, calling for convicted spies to hang amid a widening probe into acts of espionage."The country is exposed and Israel... secures much information through its control over

ZAMBOANGA:  A Japanese man who went missing on a remote southern Philippine island may have been kidnapped, authorities said Saturday.The man, named by local police as Amer Katayama Mamaito, was last seen on Pangutaran island in the Sulu archipelago, a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf Islamic

MANILA: The death toll from a typhoon that hit the Philippines rose sharply to 53 Saturday, officials said, warning the number of dead could go up further with dozens of others missing days after the disaster.In some rare good news, three fishermen were plucked by passing colleagues from