There are 17997 articles

  • UN warns against attack on Iran

    The UN nuclear watchdog has warned against the hasty use of force over Iran's nuclear program after the French foreign minister said the world needed to prepare for the possibility of war. It comes as Iran's foreign minister was quoted as saying that Russia was set to deliver its first shipment of enriched uranium for Iran's nuclear plant. Bernard.. More

  • Saudis buy Eurofighters from UK

    Saudi Arabia is to buy 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets BAE Systems, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) has confirmed. The deal is worth about £4.4bn but contracts for maintenance and training are expected to take the bill to £20bn. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) dropped a probe last year into a sale of jets to the Saudis in the 1980s. The UK government.. More

  • Iraq ends US security firm license

    The Iraqi interior ministry has cancelled the operating license of a US security firm after it was involved in a shootout that killed eight people, a senior official said. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, a ministry spokesman, said 13 people were wounded when Blackwater USA staff opened fire in a Baghdad incident involving an attack on a US motorcade. "The.. More

  • France: 'Prepare for war with Iran'

    The French foreign minister has said the world needs to prepare for the possibility of war against Iran over its nuclear programme. Bernard Kouchner said in an interview broadcast on French television and radio: "We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war." He also said France wanted the European Union to back new sanctions against Iran,.. More

  • Greek conservatives celebrate win

    Greek conservatives have celebrated their election victory after returning to power with a promise to press ahead with a privatisation programme and other economic changes. Costas Karamanlis, the prime minister, declared victory, but with a majority reduced from 165 to 152 seats in the 300-seat parliament with 99 per cent of votes counted. As he was.. More

  • Musharraf to 'quit as army chief'

    Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf plans to stand down as army chief by 15 November, an official from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) says. Gen Musharraf will resign from the powerful post after the presidential elections, said Mushahid Hussain Sayed, the PML's secretary general. He is seeking re-election by parliament before its term.. More

  • Pakistan buries pro-Taliban leader

    About 50,000 people have turned out for the funeral of a regional leader who was killed a day earlier in northwestern Pakistan. Maulana Hassan Jan was shot dead on Saturday evening by a group which opened fire on a car taking him to evening prayers in Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province. Thousands of people poured into the stadium.. More

  • Scores killed in Thai plane crash

    At least 87 people have died after a budget airliner crashed after landing in heavy rain at the Thai holiday resort of Phuket, officials say. The aircraft slipped off the runway and exploded into flames. It was carrying 123 passengers - most of them foreigners - and seven crew. About 40 people escaped the burning wreckage and were taken to hospital... More

  • At least 22 dead in Iraq violence

    At least 22 people have been killed in a series of bombings and shootings in Iraq, security officials say. Fourteen people were killed in Diyala province, north of the capital Baghdad, when militants attacked two villages. At least six people were killed by a bomb near the northern city of Kirkuk and two people were killed by a car bomb in Baghdad... More

  • Hundreds held in US anti-war march

    Nearly 200 protesters have been arrested during a march in Washington DC held to demand the return of troops from Iraq and the impeachment of George Bush, the US president. Organisers said 100,000 people attended Saturday's protest, but police did not confirm the figure. The arrests took place as police used chemical sprays on protesters attempting.. More

  • Israeli troops kill Fatah fighter

    Israeli troops have killed a fighter belonging to the Fatah movement of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, in a raid in the city of Nablus in the West Bank. An Israeli army spokesman confirmed that troops operating in the Balata refugee camp shot two armed men. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's armed wing, said the fighter who was killed,.. More

  • Larger Iraq troop pullout possible

    Robert Gates, the US defense secretary, has hinted that American forces in Iraq could be reduced to about 100,000 by January 2009, when the next US president will take office. That would be a reduction of around 69,000 troops from the current level. Gates' comments went much further than Friday's announcement by George Bush, the US president, of.. More

  • Al-Sadr loyalists quit Shia bloc

    The parliamentary group loyal Muqtada al-Sadr, a powerful Shia leader, has withdrawn from the Shia bloc that heads the Iraqi government. The move leaves the coalition of Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister, in a precarious position with about half the seats in the 275-member parliament, although it could survive with the support of independents. "The.. More

  • Islamic Courts 'preparing to fight'

    A senior leader in Somalia's Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and one of the United States' most wanted men appears to be running a military training camp on the Kenyan-Somali border. Hassan Turki has evaded capture by Somalia's transitional government since the Islamic Courts were forced from power by Somali and Ethiopian troops early this year. Al.. More

  • Iraq 'failing to meet key US goals'

    The White House has delivered a report to the US congress saying that Iraqi leaders have failed to meet half of their key military and political goals. The report on Friday came less than 24 hours after George Bush, US president, cited enough progress in Iraq to justify a limited withdrawal of US troops next year. In the report, ordered by congress,.. More