WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama is to travel to Florida`s Gulf Coast this weekend for a family trip intended to show solidarity with a region struggling in the wake of a massive oil spill. Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two daughters are to leave Washington Saturday for Panama

VANCOUVER: Canadian authorities late Thursday seized control of a cargo ship carrying hundreds of Tamil refugees fleeing Sri Lanka, military officials told Canadian media. Canada Border Services Agency staff and military forces boarded the ship, carrying some 490 passengers, officials

KUALA LUMPUR: A leatherback turtle has made a surprise return to a Malaysian beach after 32 years, a report said Friday, hailed as a "miracle" by conservationists and renewing hopes for the endangered species. The leatherbacks -- the largest of all sea turtles -- were once a star

SUKKUR: The United States has upped its aid to flood-ravaged Pakistan and announced a visit by a political heavyweight to show its commitment to a fractious ally where anti-US feeling runs high. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, attempting to fend off anger at his own response to the

YANGON- Myanmar will hold a general election on November 7, its first such poll in two decades, an official in the military-ruled country said Friday. State media confirmed the date for the election, which Western countries fear is a sham aimed at shoring up the junta`s half-century grip

MOSCOW: One policeman was killed and two others wounded in a shootout on Thursday with two natives of Russia`s volatile Northern Caucasus in Moscow, police said. The shootout took place after a police night patrol stopped two men to check their identity as they were milling around a car

ZHOUQU: Fresh heavy rains on Thursday brought more misery to a town in northwest China devastated by mudslides that have already killed more than 1,100, with new floods leaving more people missing. Thousands of soldiers and rescuers at the scene were battling to clean up roads blocked by

ALMATY: At least two people were killed and more than 80 wounded in a prison riot in Kazakhstan that ended when police in the ex-Soviet state stormed the penal colony, Kazakh media reported Thursday. Interior ministry troops stormed the penal colony near the village of Granitny in the

TOKYO: Typhoon Dianmu slammed into northern Japan on Thursday after passing across South Korea and killing five people there, officials said.With winds of up to 80 kilometres (50 miles) per hour, it made landfall in Akita in the north of Honshu island at around 5:00 pm (0800 GMT) after

YANGON: Myanmar is stepping up preparations for its first elections in two decades, designating constituencies for its national and regional parliaments, state media reported Thursday. The military leaders have not yet announced a date for this year`s polls, which Western countries fear

MEXICO CITY: A Mexican journalist kidnapped nearly two weeks ago in central Zacatecas state has been released by his captors and taken to hospital, a Reporters Without Borders spokeswoman told AFP Wednesday.Few details were available about the July 29 kidnapping of Ulises Gonzalez Garcia

WASHINGTON: US Vice President Joe Biden`s official plane flipped a small aircraft while taking off Wednesday in an accident that caused no injuries, the US Air Force said.The official plane, dubbed Air Force Two, was carrying Biden and his wife Jill as it taxied for take-off from West

US NAVAL BASE AT GUANTANAMO, : Osama Bin Laden`s former cook was sentenced to 14 years in prison Wednesday in the first prison term handed down by a Guantanamo Bay court since President Barack Obama took office.But Ibrahim al-Qosi has already agreed a plea deal with prosecutors, the

CHICAGO: Dan Rostenkowski, a powerful legislator during the Ronald Reagan era who was elected to 18 terms in Congress before being arrested on corruption charges, died Wednesday at the age of 82.An old-style Chicago ward boss and protege of the windy city`s legendary mayor Richard J.

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