SYDNEY - In a dramatic move, Kevin Rudd resigned Wednesday as Australia's foreign minister sparking speculation that he may challenge the leadership of Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Rudd made the...

TEHRAN - Amid Iran's standoff with the West over its contentious nuclear programme, the UN nuclear watchdog has said that Tehran stopped its inspectors from visiting Parchin, a key military site....

LONDON - The UN Security Council Thursday unanimously agreed to a resolution drafted by Britain to sizably increase in the strength of the African Union troops in Somalia and give them the mandate...

KABUL - Talks between Afghan officials and Taliban are underway in Pakistan, a top member of a peace council has said in an indication that Islamabad government is backing the peace move.

Ata...

BEIRUT - At least 27 civilians were shot dead by Syrian security forces after a midnight village raid in a northern province, activists said Wednesday.

"Military forces chased civilians in...

SANA'A, Yemen - After a year of violent protests against the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh, people in Yemen Tuesday voted to elect a new president - though there is only one candidate in the...

After a decade of calamitous western wars in the wider Middle East, the signs are becoming ever more ominous that we're heading for another.

And, hard as it is to credit, the same discredited...

KABUL - Hundreds of angry demonstrators gathered outside the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan Tuesday to protest the alleged burning of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, by soldiers at the base. The US...

PARIS - Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was Tuesday questioned by French police in Lille, northern France, as a suspect in a prostitution ring inquiry.

The scandal...

DAMASCUS - China joined Russia Tuesday in declining to participate in an international meet on Syria on a day at least 21 people were killed, a majority of them in the Homs neighbourhood of Bab Amr...

TEL AVIV - Top Israel officials have strongly objected and conveyed to the US that its statements over an attack on Iran had "served" Tehran's interests.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,...

Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was quizzed for the second day Wednesday as part of its investigations into a suspected prostitution ring.

The prostitutes include a...

Former Indian skipper Kapil Dev on Wednesday said his recent comments that batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar should retire from international cricket were his personal opinion.

The 1983 world...

To mark 60 years of the establishment of diplomatic ties between India and Japan, a high-level Japanese delegation headed by International Friendship Exchange Council (FEC) President Ken Matsuzawa...

The World Bank has helped install more than 1.2 million solar home systems for electricity in rural Bangladesh, the Washington-based lender said Wednesday.

The state-owned Infrastructure Development...

Pakistan's loss to England in the one day series has prompted chief selector Mohammad Illyas to call for separate teams for each format of the game ahead of the World Twenty20 cup in Sri Lanka to be...

Fog in Shanghai city Wednesday delayed the departure of 150 international flights.

Officials said flights from Pudong International Airport were delayed due to fog.

The fog has been hanging over...

India and Italy Wednesday failed to resolve their row over the killing of two Indian fishermen, with Rome reiterating the deaths took place in international waters and New Delhi insisting that the...

A class of planet that is a water world and enshrouded by a thick, steamy atmosphere has been discovered.

Astronomers spotted the planet through the Hubble space telescope.

It was revealed by...

Yukiya Amano, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Wednesday said no agreement was reached with Iran over its nuclear issue during the recent visit of the agency's team to...

Iran has stopped a team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from visiting a key military site in the country.

IAEA inspectors had sought to clarify the "possible...

India wants the United Nations to become a more effective partner of the African Union in resolution of African conflicts.

"The relevant UN agencies should support the regional and sub-regional...

An independent United Nations human rights expert today renewed his call on Israel to release a Palestinian prisoner who has been on a hunger strike for over two months to protest his detention and...

A group of independent United Nations experts today condemned the arrest of at least 16 people in Syria, including prominent human rights figures, and called for the release of all those arbitrarily...

A five-member group of experts from the United Nations atomic energy watchdog is today continuing its visit to Iran, where the members are holding talks with officials about international concerns...

A Japanese engineering contingent has arrived in South Sudan to join the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the young country and help build roads and bridges in areas with very little basic...

Representatives of the millions of smallholders, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers around the world have agreed at a United Nations forum in Rome on the need to jointly address the global...

The United Nations and the Pakistani Government today jointly requested $440 million to help people affected by last year's floods in the south of the country recover their sources of livelihood,...

Efforts to combat the spread of cholera in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remain underfunded, the United Nations humanitarian office reported today, saying the lack of access to potable...

The United Nations today voiced its confidence that the NATO-led military force in Afghanistan will take appropriate action to hold accountable those responsible for the reported burning of copies of...

Destructive floods caused by the rapid thawing of the Danube River could add to the fatalities from an already harsh European winter, the head of the United Nations agency dealing with disaster risk...

As Yemenis vote today in elections that will bring to a close more than three decades of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule, the United Nations is providing ongoing support to ensure that the ballot...

British Prime Minister David Cameron is preparing to host 40 world leaders Thursday in London to discuss how best to foster stability in Somalia. It will be the first time in a decade that the...

The Obama administration is trying to attract more foreign investors to boost the U.S. economy. Washington is encouraging U.S. firms to get out and compete for a larger share of the international...

China has relaxed restrictions on Hollywood movies in a step towards resolving an outstanding World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute.

China signed an agreement with the US Feb 18 to exempt an...

KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) -- He has never worked outside the home or seen a doctor, and until Wednesday, he had never left his remote mountain village in western Nepal. So 72-year-old Chandra Bahadur...

BANGKOK - World stocks were muted today as hopes of more steps to prop up China's growth were offset by pessimism over Europe's debt crisis. Benchmark oil hovered above $106 per barrel...

The EUR130 billion-plus (US$172 billion) package of loans agreed by euro zone finance ministers will not protect Greece from bankruptcy. It merely postpones the inevitable, while European and...

The United States and other imperialist powers are pushing ahead with plans for military intervention and the overthrow of the Syrian government, convening a meeting Friday in the Tunisian capital,...

It's a sad state of affairs, but the fact remains that Omar Sharif is still the only Arab actor who has come close to winning an Oscar. Fifty years have now passed since the Egyptian icon...

Nepalese Chandra Bahadur Dangi, 72, arrives at the airport in Katmandu, Nepal. Guinness World Records officials will be in Nepal this weekend to measure Mr Dangi who hopes to be named the...

LONDON, England, February 22. CHRIS Colwill (Brandon, Fla./Athens, Ga.) finished ninth in the men"s 3-meter preliminaries Tuesday at the FINA Diving World Cup to advance to Wednesday"s...

TUSTIN, California, February 22. THE USA Women's National Team remained undefeated in FINA World League Prelim play, following a 17-1 defeat of Brazil at Beckman High School. Melissa Seidemann...

LAS VEGAS - MGM Resorts International narrowed its loss in the fourth quarter, as revenue climbed and occupancy improved at its Las Vegas Strip properties. The casino operator, whose properties...

AFP A Chinese beachhead into Europe: Employees stand next to an assembly line of the new Great Wall Motor car plant in the Bulgarian village of...

In this Monday, Feb. 20, 2012, supporters of different religious parties chant anti-American slogans at a rally in Islamabad, Pakistan. A U.S. congressman has sparked outrage in Pakistan by calling...

VIENNA -; The Netherlands' royal information service says Prince Johan Friso remains in stable but life-threatening condition five days after he was buried by an avalanche in the Austrian...

FILE - This July 25, 2007 file photo shows Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, right, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy standing while national anthems are being played, at the Bab Azizia Palace in...

ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan -; A Pakistani government official says 17 health workers have been fired for allegedly participating in a CIA scheme to confirm the presence of Osama bin Laden in a...

JOHANNESBURG -; A witness says that days before an exiled Rwandan army general was shot and wounded in South Africa, two of the men charged in the shooting were plotting another attempt on his...