BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah on Friday urged Lebanon`s rival factions to avoid violence after an unprecedented joint visit to defuse a tense political situation."The leaders stressed the importance of stability... the commitment (of the Lebanese) not to

SRINAGAR: Three protesters were killed by security forces Friday in a day of violence in Indian Kashmir that also left 75 people injured, police and witnesses said.The fatalities added to a string of deaths that have fuelled a rolling series of angry protests across the Muslim-majority

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama called on Iran Friday to "immediately release" three American hikers being held by the Islamic republic, saying they never worked for the US government and committed "absolutely no crime."Obama, ahead of the one-year anniversary Saturday of the hikers`

PESHAWAR: Flash floods and landslides triggered by torrential monsoon rains have killed more than 400 people in Pakistan in three days and affected at least 600,000, a minister said Friday.Hundreds of homes and thousands of hectares (acres) of cultivated land were destroyed in the

KABUL: Scores of Afghans rioted outside the US embassy in Kabul on Friday after a NATO vehicle crashed into a civilian car killing a number of occupants, officials and witnesses said.Television pictures showed at least one armoured vehicle in flames as young Afghan men threw stones at

BEIJING: China said Friday it opposed tough new sanctions imposed by the European Union on Iran over its contested nuclear programme, again calling for more talks to resolve the standoff."China disapproves of the unilateral sanctions put in place by the EU against Iran," foreign ministry

WASHINGTON: A US soldier accused of leaking military video footage from Iraq and suspected in the release of thousands of classified documents about the war in Afghanistan has been transferred to a US military jail, the US Defense Department said on Friday.Private First Class Bradley E.

TEHRAN - Iran`s atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said on Friday that Tehran was against stockpiling 20 percent-enriched uranium, the sensitive material world powers want the Islamic republic to stop producing."We need 20 percent fuel for the Tehran research reactor at the moment," Salehi was

BEIJING - China this week staged a large-scale naval and air exercise on its southeast coast, as South Korea and the United States conducted their own naval drill opposed by Beijing, state media said Friday.The live-fire exercises in the South China Sea on Monday also came three days

BEIRUT - Lebanon on Friday hosts a rare summit of regional leaders aimed at defusing tensions over reports of an impending indictment against Hezbollah members for the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.The meeting between Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, Saudi King Abdullah and Syrian

PESHAWAR - The death toll from flash floods and landslides triggered by torrential monsoon rains in Pakistan rose to nearly 200 on Friday as officials reported thousands more displaced.Hundreds of homes and thousands of hectares (acres) of cultivated land have been destroyed in the

NEW DELHI - The real jewel in Britain`s actual crown will not be returning to India, Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday, as he ruled out any repatriation of the famed Kohinoor diamond.The 105 carat gemstone set in the coronation crown of the British royals was mined in the

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama said Thursday he was not invited to Chelsea Clinton`s nuptials -- reasoning the security footprint of two presidents at one wedding would have spoiled the event.Chelsea Clinton, 30, is to marry investment banker Marc Mezvinksy, 32, outside a town in

WASHINGTON - The United States announced Thursday that top officials will fan out starting next week to China, the United Arab Emirates, and other key countries in support of tighter sanctions against Iran."China is of concern to us in this regard," Robert Einhorn, the US State

VILLERS-AU-TERTRE - A French nursing assistant Thursday admitted suffocating eight newborn babies because she did not want more children and wished to avoid seeing a doctor for contraception, a prosecutor said.Dominique Cottrez, 45, was charged with murder Thursday after the new owners of

WASHINGTON, July 29, 2010 (AFP) - US and "senior" Israeli officials were to meet Thursday to discuss the crisis over Iran`s suspect nuclear program and economic sanctions meant to curb it, a senior US diplomat told lawmakers.Robert Einhorn, the US State Department`s special adviser for

COLOMBO - Unidentified attackers set fire to a private television station in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo Friday after smashing editing equipment, police said.About a dozen men stormed the Siyatha television studious in Colombo and exploded a petrol bomb after systematically destroying

NUEVO LAREDO - The bodies of 15 people, many bearing marks of torture and bullet wounds, were found Thursday along a road in northern Mexico near the US border, an official said.The bodies were found on a highway leading from Ciudad Victoria to Matamoros, not far from the US border city

KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday urged his Western allies to destroy Islamist militant sanctuaries in neighbouring Pakistan after thousands of secret US files were leaked."The time has come for our international allies to know that the war against terrorism is not in

SEOUL - North Korea signed a new accord on economic and technical cooperation with China on Thursday, state media said as the impoverished communist country struggles to recharge its faltering economy.The accord was signed in Pyongyang between the North`s foreign trade minister Ri