Browsing: World News

Laden with debt, its economy in recession — is the US territory of Puerto Rico poised to become another Greece? The Caribbean island of 3.7 million has sent shivers through investors holding its $65 billion in bonds and through the administration of…

A suicide bomber blew himself up in central Damascus on Tuesday, causing deaths and injuries, Syrian state television reported, with a monitoring group saying at least two people were killed. “A terrorist suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt blew…

Radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, deported by Britain in July after a near decade-long legal battle, is to go on trial in Jordan on December 10, judicial sources said Tuesday. “The state security court has set next Tuesday, December 10, as the date…

A dream home in Portugal is becoming a golden ticket for wealthy Chinese, where property assets can also yield a prized residence permit allowing them to travel and do business across Europe. Portugal is rolling out the red carpet to discriminating…

Women aren’t very good at reading maps, and men are incapable of multi-tasking. At first glance they might seem like a couple of hoary old stereotypes from the battle of the sexes. But are they? A new study looking at the neural wiring of the male and…

US President Barack Obama on Monday pledged up to $5 billion to fight HIV/AIDS as long as the rest of the world collectively offers double that amount. Obama urged other countries to replenish the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria…

Taliban insurgents fighting against the US-backed Afghan government expressed their support on Monday for President Hamid Karzai’s refusal to sign a security pact with Washington. Karzai is locked in a public dispute with the US over the security deal…

The United States Monday urged Beijing to scrap new aviation arrangements set up by its new air defense zone which Washington has denounced as confusing and likely to increase the risk of accidents. “Our general position as a US government is that we…

The US military has begun outfitting a ship with special equipment that will be used to destroy part of Syria’s chemical arsenal, the Pentagon said Monday. A hydrolysis unit is being installed on the MV Cape Ray, a 650-foot (200 meters) cargo ship,…

The first full study of a snake’s genome has revealed the Burmese python to be one of the most evolutionarily advanced creatures on Earth, international researchers said Monday. The findings shed new light on how these southeast Asian natives have survived…

Syrian rebels, including jihadist groups, have captured the historic Christian town of Maalula north of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday. Rebels assaulted the town by rolling explosive-filled tyres down the hills onto regime…

Saudi Arabia is satisfied with current crude prices as well as global supply and demand levels, its oil minister said Monday, indicating OPEC will freeze its output ceiling. “The market is in the best position it can be,” Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister…

A least a million Syrians are going hungry, as fighting and checkpoints prevent aid deliveries, the international Red Cross warned on Monday. “A conservative estimate is a million people without food,” said Simon Eccleshall, crisis management chief…

Hong Kong on Tuesday confirmed its first human case of the deadly H7N9 bird flu, according to a report, in the latest sign of the virus spreading beyond mainland China. A 36-year-old Indonesian domestic helper with a history of travelling to the mainland…

The White House said Monday that it did not consider peaceful demonstrations in Ukraine as attempts at a coup, and called violent suppression of protests by police unacceptable. “We certaintly don’t consider peaceful demonstrations coup attempts,” said…

Italian coastguards on Monday rescued around 120 mostly Syrian refugees from a packed fishing boat adrift off the coast of southern Italy in gale-force conditions. Coastguards exploited a brief lull in the weather to rescue the migrants, including some…

Russian strongman Vladimir Putin on Monday slammed street protests in Ukraine against the government’s decision not to sign a key agreement with the European Union and seek closer ties with the Kremlin. “The events in Ukraine seem more like a pogrom…

Ukrainian protesters Monday blockaded administrative buildings and camped on Kiev’s central square in a bid to oust the government after police brutality and a row over an EU pact plunged the nation into its worst political crisis in a decade. European…

NATO officials warned Afghan President Hamid Karzai Monday that he must sign a US troop status accord or put at risk future military and development aid for his country. While planning continues for a post-2014 training and advisory mission after NATO…

France on Monday arrested 45 people in a vast sweep against international arms traffickers, police said. In a statement, police said some 300 officers had been involved in the operation, which focused on hundreds of military-grade arms, pieces of ammunition…