Campaigners hope cluster bomb

GENEVA: The Red Cross and campaigners hope that the moral weight of a landmark ban on cluster munitions which takes effect on Sunday will force big mi

Italian speaker of parliament says he would not resign

ROME: Italy’s speaker of parliament Gianfranco Fini confirmed on Friday that he would not leave his post after a dramatic falling-out with Prime Minis

Kim’s biography seized in Myanmar

YANGON: North Korean embassy officials have seized hundreds of copies of an unauthorised biography of their reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il in Myanmar, t

UN urges Israel to end Gaza blockade

GENEVA: Israel must lift its military blockade of the Gaza Strip and invite an independent, fact-finding mission to investigate its raid on a Gaza-bou

Hamas slams Arab backing for talks with Israel

DOHA: Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal slammed Arab leaders for endorsing the resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, in comments published

‘Iran will never give up its right to uranium enrichment’

TEHRAN: Iran will never give up its right to enrich uranium, a senior official said on Friday, but it could suspend higher-level work for several year

China opposes new EU sanctions on Iran

BEIJING: China said on Friday that it did not approve of tougher new sanctions imposed by the European Union on Iran, and welcomed Tehran’s offer to r

Sarkozy vows to fight illegal immigration

GRENOBLE/PARIS: President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed tough measures on Friday to fight crime, delinquency and illegal immigration as he looks to shore u

Town of Rhinebeck braces for Chelsea wedding

RHINEBECK, New York: With a day to go before Chelsea Clinton’s multimillion-dollar wedding, the tiny town of Rhinebeck, 100 miles north of New York Ci

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah pay landmark visit to Beirut

BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah on Friday urged Lebanon’s rival factions to avoid violence after an unprecedented joi

China holds naval drill

BEIJING: China this week staged a large naval and air exercise on its southeast coast, as South Korea and the United States conducted their own naval

Hoodlums torch Sri Lankan TV channel office

COLOMBO: An unidentified gang set fire to a Sri Lankan broadcaster owned by a businessman who had backed the opposition in a presidential election, de