World News

COLOMBO: Power failure in a court complex forced the hearing in a case against former Sri Lankan Army chief Sarath Fonseka to be put off till next month, prompting the government to order a high-level inquiry into the incident.

DHAKA: Stirring a controversy, a lawmaker of Bangladesh’s Jatiya Party has claimed that its leader, the ex-military dictator Hussain Muhammad Ershad had killed former president Ziaur Rahman in 1981.

BEIRUT: The Iranian leader, Mr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Lebanon this week sent a message to Washington that Tehran is a key player in the region and cannot be isolated, Lebanese newspapers said on Friday.

BRUSSELS: A group of countries calling itself the “friends of democratic Pakistan”, including the US and Iran, met in Brussels on Friday to look for ways to help rebuild and reform the country in the wake of its devastating floods.

JERUSALEM: Israel’s government ended an unofficial freeze on new building in east Jerusalem, approving the construction of 238 homes in Jewish neighborhoods as peace talks remained stuck Friday over the fate of a broader construction slowdown throughout the West Bank.

LONDON: Human demands on natural resources have doubled in under 50 years and are now outstripping what the planet can provide.
Consequently, at current rates of consumption of resources, humankind will need the capacity of two earths by 2030, according to the biennial Living Planet Report.

PESHAWAR: Pressing ahead with their strikes on NATO convoys, Taliban militants torched a container truck ferrying supplies to Afghanistan, killing its driver and cleaner in the lawless Khyber tribal region as seven people were killed in fierce clashes in Pakistan’s northwest, official sources said.

COPIAPO (CHILE): The ordeal of 33 miners trapped for two months underground in Chile ended late on Wednesday as the last miner, Luis Urzua, 54 - the man who guided his men through the ordeal - emerged to safety and ear-splitting cheers above ground.  It took less than 24 hours for the pioneering capsule-and-winch system to hoist the 33 men to safety and joyous welcome by their families.

WASHINGTON: The US President, Mr Barack Obama has warned of an “education arms race” with India and China and said that any cut in the education budget as recommended by the Republicans would be detrimental to America’s national interest.

METULLA, ISRAEL: Israelis were on Thursday warily watching their northern border for a rare opportunity to see up close the arch-enemy of the Jewish state, Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.