Thirteen-year-old Indian girl Yugratna Srivastava has been invited by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, to address the UN summit on climate change. She’s only 13, but she has a message for the US President Barack Obama, China’s President Hu Jintao and India’s Foreign Minister S M Krishna. “Politicians, please listen [...]

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, and two suspected fellow plotters refused to attend a Guantanamo military court hearing. Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, all suspected orchestrators of the attacks eight years ago that killed nearly 3,000 people, had been due in court on Monday after filing [...]

In what may not go down well with Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama didn’t favour the current Secretary of State as husband Barack Obama’s vice-presidential nominee in the race to the White House, a new book has claimed. According to the book, Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage, Michelle instead favoured Joe Biden, the [...]

China has banned foreign tourists from traveling to Tibet ahead of a parade in the capital to mark 60 years of Communist rule, an official said on Tuesday, amid stepped-up security across the country to ensure nothing mars the celebrations. Tan Lin, an official with the business administration office at the Tourism Bureau of Tibet, [...]

Dozens of fighter jets, helicopters and other warplanes flew over the Chinese capital on Monday, as China stepped up preparations for it’s National Day, on October 1. The government plans to tighten security around the city with restrictions on knife sales and plans to ground flights that day. The Chinese President, Hu Jintao, is expected [...]

Pakistan has drawn up a list of 83 high-profile terrorists wanted for various crimes, ranging from an attack on former President Pervez Musharraf to fanning the separatist movement in Balochistan, with Baloch leader Bhramdagh Bugi topping the list. The list, prepared by the interior ministry, includes 41 terrorists from Punjab province, 21 from Sindh, 13 [...]

US President Barack Obama has rejected a request by several former heads of the country’s intelligence community to end investigations into the alleged torture of terror suspects post 9/11. Obama’s polite reply – “The law is the law.” The US president is defending Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to launch an investigation into CIA torture [...]

Pakistan has placed banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed under house arrest. The move comes just 48 hours before the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan are to scheduled meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. According to the Pakistan media, a police party has been deputed outside Saeed’s residence, restricting his movement. At [...]

Pakistani authorities have placed Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, mastermind of the Mumbai terror attacks, under house arrest. According to the Pakistan media, a police party has been deputed outside Saeed’s residence, restricting his movement. * On September 10, Home Minister P Chidambaram meets US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington DC. * A [...]

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday denied the West’s charge that Tehran aims to develop nuclear weapons under a covert programme, insisting the Islamic republic bans such activity. “They falsely accuse the Islamic republic of producing nuclear weapons. We fundamentally reject nuclear weapons and prohibit the production and the use of nuclear weapons,” [...]

He is America’s first African-American President but in his first few months at the White House, race and race relations have often taken the centrestage. Now for the first time since former US president Jimmy Carter opened up a pandora’s box by declaring that racism was a major factor behind the hostility towards Obama. The [...]

In his first public acknowledgment of fraud in Afghanistan’s recent presidential elections, President Hamid Karzai admitted on Thursday that some government officials “were partial toward me”. Karzai was addressing a press conference, the day after full preliminary results showed that he had 54 percent of the vote. He held back from declaring victory, talking only [...]

President Barack Obama staged a homecoming-style Olympic rally at the White House on Wednesday, saying the whole country is rooting for his hometown of Chicago in its efforts to host the 2016 Summer Games. “Chicago is ready. The American people are ready. We want these games,” he said to applause from the Olympians, Paralympians, local [...]

Minister for Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath has hit the road looking for foreign investment in India’s highways. He in the United States for a week, capping off a world tour to revive foreign interest in India’s roads and highways and says India is set to launch the world’s biggest Public Private Partnership program. [...]

The White House has chosen to play down former president Jimmy Carter’s statement that there was a racial bias against Obama among some people, which led to a congressman shouting ‘You Lie’ during the President’s address last week. Spokesman Robert Gibbs said that Obama, the first African-American US president, does not think that criticism of [...]

In his first speech since he was reappointed, US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the recession is “very likely over” but detailed the tough road ahead for the economy. Bernanke also said that despite delays, he is confident that Congress will pass changes to financial rules to ward off future collapses. “Even though, from [...]

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the new swine flu vaccine on Tuesday, a long-anticipated step as the US government works to get vaccinations underway next month. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told lawmakers on Tuesday that limited supplies should start trickling out the first week of October – about a [...]

Amidst former President Pervez Musharraf’s revelation that Pakistan used US military aid to strengthen its defences against India, a top American military official on Tuesday said a team was recently sent to Islamabad to review the reimbursement system under Coalition Support Funds. In a written reply to Senate Armed Services Committee, Chairman of the Joint [...]