PARIS: The historic Lutetia hotel in Paris, occupied by the Nazis and after liberation serving as a welcome centre for concentration camp survivors, has been purchased by the Israeli Alrov group, the owners said Saturday.The Louvre Group, Europe`s second largest hotelier after Accor,

NEW ORLEANS:  As BP works to finally kill its runaway well and anxious coastal residents breathe a sigh of relief, experts warn it could take years -- or even decades -- for the Gulf of Mexico to recover.Three weeks after the flow was fully stemmed with a temporary cap, the massive slick

KABUL : Gunmen killed 10 medical workers, including eight foreigners, in Afghanistan`s remote northeast, police and officials said on Saturday, and the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.A Christian aid group said those killed matched descriptions of members of one of its

BEIJING: Sixteen workers died when a fire broke out in a gold mine in east China, state media reported Saturday, in the latest accident to hit the nation`s notoriously dangerous mining sector this week.Most of the victims died of toxic smoke inhalation underground or in hospital after the

CAPE TOWN: South African police said Saturday the uncut gems Naomi Campbell received after meeting Liberian strongman Charles Taylor at a 1997 charity dinner are real diamonds and that they may question the model."They are real diamonds, handed back to us now, and the investigation

BASRA: Fourteen people were killed in an apparent electricity generator explosion in Iraq`s southern port city of Basra on Saturday, officials said.The blast occurred at around 7:15 pm (1615 GMT) in the crowded Ashaar market in the centre of the city, 450 kilometres (280 miles) south of

BAGHDAD - Iraq on Saturday took delivery of the first 11 of 140 American M1A1 Abrams tanks, just weeks before the US military ends its combat mission here and pulls thousands of its troops out of the country.The remainder of the order will be completed by the end of 2011, when the US

BAGHDAD - Six policemen were among seven people killed in and around Baghdad, including four who died in a fierce gunbattle in a Sunni neighbourhood of the Iraqi capital, officials said Saturday.The latest violence comes as the US military draws down its forces in Iraq, five months after

WASHINGTON - Two International Space Station astronauts were prepared Saturday to set out on the first of two spacewalks to fix a cooling pump that dramatically failed last week.ISS astronauts will need at least two spacewalks to remove the failed ammonia pump unit and replace it with a

BEIRUT - This week`s arrest of a well-respected retired general and politician allied with Hezbollah on suspicion of spying for Israel has sent shock waves through Lebanon and left many wondering how deep the Jewish state has infiltrated the country.Fayez Karam, a member of the Christian

WASHINGTON - Elena Kagan will be sworn in Saturday as a Supreme Court justice, becoming only the fourth woman in US history to win a seat of the nation`s highest court.But the court`s conservative make-up is unlikely to change.US Senators voted 63-37 Thursday to confirm Kagan as one of

BEIJING - The number of people killed or missing in devastating floods across China this year has risen to more than 2,100, according to the government, as weather authorities warn of yet more rain.The nation`s civil affairs ministry said late Friday 1,454 people had died in floods this

CARACAS - Venezuela`s foreign minister will attend the inauguration of Colombia`s incoming president, Juan Manuel Santos, on Saturday, signaling a thaw between the Andean neighbors after relations broke over leftist rebels.The socialist Chavez severed ties last month and announced he was

BOGOTA - Colombia`s President-elect Juan Manuel Santos takes office on Saturday with a strong mandate to keep fighting left-wing guerrillas, spur economic growth and tackle a messy diplomatic dispute with neighboring Venezuela.Santos, a former defense and finance minister welcomed by Wall

BEIJING: Sixteen workers died when a fire broke out in a gold mine in east China, state media reported Saturday, in the latest accident to hit the nation`s notoriously dangerous mining sector.Most of the victims died of toxic smoke inhalation underground or in hospital after the accident,

WASHINGTON - The United States and the United Nations Friday designated Pakistan`s Harakat-ul Jihad al-Islami as a foreign terror group and blacklisted its commander, the US Treasury Department said.Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, who the United States labeled a "Specially Designated Global

KABUL - The Taliban said Saturday they had killed "Christian missionaries" working in remote northern Afghanistan where the bullet-riddled bodies of six Americans, one German and a British national were found.Three women were among the group of foreign eye doctors working for the aid

Undated: In a joint crackdown on the Pakistan based Harakat-ul Jihad Islami or HuJI, as it’s more commonly known, the United States and the UN on Saturday declared it to be foreign terrorist organisation and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.They also slapped sanctions on its

WASHINGTON: The US military may retain control of foreign detainees in Afghan prison who are linked to insurgents, despite next year`s transfer of all prison authority to Kabul, a top US military officer said Thursday. "Our preference would be not to. But I would not rule that out as an

WASHINGTON: The United States said Thursday that despite major setbacks, Al-Qaeda`s core in Pakistan is the "most formidable" terrorist group threatening the United States, along with affiliates in Yemen and Africa. In an annual report, the State Department said it also learned that