URUMQI - For Ruzmammat, the Internet is a crucial way of keeping in touch with his Uighur friends in China`s Xinjiang region -- a lifeline that was denied to him for 10 months following deadly ethnic riots. Authorities cut off the web in Xinjiang in the aftermath of violence that erupted

DHARAMSHALA - The Dalai Lama marks his 75th birthday on Tuesday, with thousands set to celebrate the occasion in his hometown-in-exile and events planned across the globe from Europe to Australia. The Nobel laureate will address a crowd of 5,000 fans and followers at his temple in McLeod

ABUJA - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to meet fellow Muslim leaders at a summit in Nigeria on Thursday after Western nations recently piled fresh sanctions on his country over its nuclear programme. Turkish President Abdullah Gul will also attend the Developing Eight (D8)

TEHRAN - Iran, OPEC`s second largest oil exporter, has discovered two new natural gas fields, Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi announced on Monday.The combined gas reserves of the two fields amount to around 800 billion cubic metres (28 trillion cubic feet), he told reporters."Forouz gas

WARSAW - Poland`s liberals held all the reins of power Monday after their candidate Bronislaw Komorowski foiled conservative Jaroslaw Kaczynski`s audacious bid to replace his late twin in a presidential election.Komorowski`s victory means the Civic Platform controls both the government

TEHRAN - Airports in Britain, Germany and the United Arab Emirates have refused to offer fuel to Iranian passenger jets flying through their airspace, Iranian media reported on Monday.The action was the result of unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran over its

JERUSALEM - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak was on Monday holding a face-to-face meeting with Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad at a hotel in Jerusalem, officials on both sides said.The two were meeting at the King David hotel on the eve of talks between Israeli Prime Minister

HANOI - Vietnam has broken ground on a 1.2 billion dollar coal-fired power plant, state media reported Monday, as the fast-growing economy seeks to stem power shortages.The Nghi Son 1 project, to be fully operational by 2014, will have a capacity of 600 megawatts, the Vietnam News

ANKARA - Turkish airspace closed to Israeli military flights: Turkish ministerBDST: 12:27 HRS, July 5, 2010

SYDNEY: Australia`s new Prime Minister Julia Gillard has cast serious doubt over a new 18-nation Asian forum proposed by her sacked predecessor, a report said on Monday.Gillard told the Sydney Morning Herald that former leader Kevin Rudd`s Asia-Pacific community, a hallmark of his plans

LONDON: More than 50 prisoners are still missing since riots at Syria`s Saydnaya prison two years ago led to the deaths of at least 17 prisoners and five military police, Amnesty International said on Monday.In a report marking the second anniversary of the July 5, 2008 riots at the

PESHAWAR - Four suicide attackers armed with car bombs and rockets targeted a fort in Pakistan, killing a soldier and wounding at least seven in an area troubled by Taliban, officials said Monday.The squad targeted the post manned by paramilitary in the northwestern town of Timargarah in

NEW ORLEANS:  Efforts to clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill ramped back up Sunday after Hurricane Alex prompted a five-day shutdown, amid new questions over how BP would pay for the mounting costs.Cleanup workers arrived back on Grand Isle, Louisiana by the hundreds, spilling off

ANKARA- Turkey will sever diplomatic ties with Israel unless it apologises over the commando raid on an aid convoy to Gaza in which nine Turks died, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying Monday.BDST: 12:26 HRS, July 5, 2010

NEW YORK: American Joey "Jaws" Chestnut has wolfed down 54 hot dogs in 10 minutes to claim his fourth consecutive world title in one of the planet`s most bizarre sports: competitive eating. But the New York event was marred Sunday by the arrest of Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi, Chestnut`s

MOSCOW: Six people were killed in an accidental explosion at a Russian military firing range in Siberia, reports said Monday.Two military engineers -- a major and a lieutenant colonel -- and four employees of a local munitions firm were killed in the explosion in the Altai region of south

WASHINGTON: A Fourth of July parade turned into a tragedy in the Midwestern state of Iowa when two horses pulling a carriage went out of control and trampled 24 people, many of them children, US media reported.One person was killed, and some of the other injuries were severe, the reports

PORT-AU-PRINCE: The inmates at Haiti`s only women`s prison cry out in desperation as warden Marie-Yolaine Mathieu makes her rounds, hoping that she will hear their case and perhaps, help secure their release."Director, director, I need to speak to you," calls out one woman with matted

NEW DELHI: Police came out in force in cities across India on Monday for an opposition-led national strike over fuel price rises that disrupted flights and train services, and closed schools and businesses.The strike was called by the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and

SINGAPORE: Oil was up in Asian trade on Monday as traders cashed in on cheap crude following a slump in prices last week, analysts said.New York`s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, gained 38 cents to 72.52 dollars a barrel.Brent North Sea crude for August delivery