There are 17997 articles

  • Bush officials blamed over torture

    Senior US officials in the Bush administration were involved in the approval of the use of torture on so-called terror detainees by CIA employees, a US senate report has said. The use of torture against detainees also led to the brutal mistreatment of "terror" suspects and prisoners in places such as Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, the senate armed.. More

  • Obama invites Middle East leaders to White House

    US President Barack Obama will invite the Palestinian, Egyptian and Israeli leaders to the White House in the coming weeks for separate talks on moving forward with the Middle East "peace process", the White House said Tuesday. Spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president was issuing the invitations in hopes of building on talks he held earlier.. More

  • North and South Korea talks fail

    The first official talks between North and South Korean officials have ended without progress. The meeting on Tuesday had been seen as a major step - the first government-to-government dialogue since Lee Myung-bak, the South Korean president took office in February last year. But the talks lasted only 22 minutes and started after a full day of arguing.. More

  • Sri Lanka warned of 'catastrophe'

    The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said that there is a "catastrophic" humanitarian crisis in northern Sri Lanka's conflict zone, where tens of thousands of civilians are trapped. The warning comes as government forces closed in on fighters from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who are defying a government.. More

  • Many dead in central Kenya clashes

    At least 24 people have been killed in central Kenya in clashes between villagers and members of the Mungiki sect. Charles Owino, the deputy police spokesman, said that the deaths occurred overnight when villagers near the town of Karatina took on members of the sect saying they had been extorting money from them. Eric Kiraithe, the police spokesman,.. More

  • Italy takes in stranded migrants

    About 140 migrants have arrived ashore in Italy after spending days stranded aboard a cargo ship in the Mediterranean. The Turkish ship, the Pinar, had been the subject of a standoff between Italy and Malta over who should take in the group after the ship rescued them from two boats. The migrants had been waiting in international waters, about 40km.. More

  • Israel criticism sparks UN walkout

    Dozens of delegates have walked out of a UN conference on racism after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, described Israel as a "racist government". Ahmadinejad told delegates at the summit in Switzerland on Monday that after the Second World War the US and other nations had established a "cruel, oppressive and racist regime in occupied.. More

  • 'US drone' attack hits Pakistan

    At least three people have been killed after a suspected US missile attack in Pakistan's South Waziristan region, security officials have said. The identities of the casualties were not clear, but security officials said that the target was a training camp for pro-Taliban fighters near the village of Zari Noor. "It was a training camp. At the.. More

  • UN is ‘shocked’ at US boycott

    UN human rights chief Navi Pillay expressed shock and disappointment yesterday at the US decision to stay away from a major conference on racism opening here today. The United States and five other countries are boycotting the event out of concern that some countries will demand that it denounce Israel. In a statement, the UN high commissioner for.. More

  • Somali pirates release ship, ransom paid

    Somali pirates have released a Togo-flagged cargo ship seized last week, a U.N. aid agency said on Monday, and pirate sources said a ransom was paid. The pirates have continued to hijack commercial vessels on the strategic Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean earning millions of dollars in ransoms despite the presence of foreign navies off the coast of Somalia. &q.. More

  • US boycotts racism conference

    The United States has said it will not attend an United Nations conference on racism because the text of the draft final statement contains language it is "unable to support", the state department has said. Negotiators had been trying to find common ground before the meeting in Geneva, but the US said there were still concerns it would limit.. More

  • Pirates seize Belgian ship off Aden

    Pirates have seized a Belgian ship in the waters off east Africa, a spokesman for the Belgian government's crisis management centre has said. The 65-metre Pompei had transmitted an alarm at 04:30 GMT, followed by another half-an-hour later on Friday. Benoit Ramacker, of the crisis management centre, said: "The ship has been spotted and we can.. More

  • Deadly attack on Pakistan convoy

    Asuicide bomber has attacked a military convoy killing at least 20 people in a tribal region of northwest Pakistan, police have said. Thirteen more people were injured in the attack, which was carried out near a checkpoint in the town of Kohat, on Saturday. Fareed Khan, a senior police officer, said: "The bomber was driving a pick-up truck which.. More

  • N Korea tells US officials to leave

    The US has called North Korea's move to expel American weapons experts working on disabling its main nuclear plant "a step backward". "It's a step backward," Robert Wood, a US state department spokesman, said on Wednesday. "The North is going to have to deal with the consequences of such decisions. And they just bring upon.. More

  • Indian election gets under way

    People in several states of India have begun voting in the first of five stages in an electoral process that will last a month. A total of 124 seats in the Lok Sabha, or lower house of parliament, are up for grabs in Thursday's polls. The first phase covers states in northern and eastern India that are beset by a range of violent conflicts involving.. More