SULAIMANIYAH: Twenty-nine people, including children, women and foreigners, were killed in a late night fire at a hotel in northern Iraq`s Sulaimaniyah city, health and government officials said Friday.Four Americans were among 29 people killed in a hotel fire in northern Iraq, a hospital

SEOUL ` South Korea and the United States will stage a series of naval exercises this year to deter North Korea following the sinking of one of Seoul`s warships, the defence ministry said Friday.The ministry also announced that a separate anti`proliferation naval drill would be held off

BEIJING ` German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday prodded China to ease access to its markets as the leaders of the world`s top two exporting nations held talks in Beijing focused on trade.After meeting Premier Wen Jiabao, Merkel told reporters that she had emphasised German wishes for

BEIRUT ` Lebanon has arrested a third person in a widening probe into a network of suspected Israeli spies employed in the country`s telecom sector, a source close to the investigation said Friday."The arrest was made late last night and the suspect is a former employee of Lebanon`s

TOKYO ` A monster tuna caught off Japan turned heads at a Tokyo fish market Friday, where the 445 kilogram (981 pound) bluefin `` the biggest caught here since 1986 `` sold for 3.2 million yen (36,700 dollars)."Many of the people who work at the market have never seen a tuna that big,"

KOLKATA ` Sheathed in 26,500 tonnes of high`tensile steel and capable of handling 100,000 vehicles a day without a groan, Kolkata`s Howrah Bridge is facing a threat its builders had never dreamed of `` human spittle.Recognised as one of the world`s finest cantilever bridges, the landmark

HANOI:  Tensions over the sinking of a South Korean warship will overshadow the Asia`Pacific`s largest security forum when it convenes in Vietnam next week, diplomats and observers said. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will join her counterparts from 27 countries and blocs

MANILA:  The death toll from a typhoon that hit the Philippines this week has risen to 38, with 47 people still missing, the government said on Friday.Conson hit the Southeast Asian archipelago late on Tuesday, then whipped Manila and other parts of the main island of Luzon throughout

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama praised Yemen`s "determination" to fight terror during a phone call with his counterpart Ali Abdullah Saleh on Thursday, the White House said. But despite the Yemeni government`s efforts to crack down on extremism, the two leaders noted that Al`Qaeda

TEHRAN: The death toll from twin suicide bombings at a Shiite mosque in heavily Sunni southeast Iran rose to 22, a top provincial official told state television on Friday. Ali Mohammad Azad, the governor general of Sistan`Baluchestan province, said the number of those wounded also rose

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Clinton heads to Pakistan in the coming days to bolster support in the fight against the Taliban and outline a political endgame to the war in neighboring Afghanistan. As she heads to a donors` conference in Kabul set for Tuesday, Clinton was expected to

BOGOTA:  Colombia said Thursday it had evidence five leaders of leftist guerrilla groups were in Venezuela, marking the latest sign of tensions between the South American neighbors. Both of the leftist groups cited by the office of outgoing President Alvaro Uribe `` the Revolutionary

NEW ORLEANS:  British energy giant BP stopped the oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday for the first time in three months as it began key tests hoping to stem the spill for good. Shortly after BP engineers shut down the last of three valves on a giant new cap placed on the

PHOENIX: A controversial new Arizona immigration law was challenged for the first time in court here Thursday, at the start of one of seven suits brought against the heavily`criticized policy. The law, due to take effect on July 29, makes it a crime to be in the state, which borders

BANGKOK:  Thai police said Thursday they had arrested an anti-government "Red Shirt" who was a close aide to an assassinated rogue general in connection with a series of attacks in Bangkok. Surachai Thewarat, 25, is accused of being involved in incidents including a deadly drive-by

BANGKOK:  Thai police said Thursday they had arrested an anti-government "Red Shirt" who was a close aide to an assassinated rogue general in connection with a series of attacks in Bangkok. Surachai Thewarat, 25, is accused of being involved in incidents including a deadly drive-by

BEIJING: One child died and more than 100 villagers fell ill in southwestern China after they took anti-malarial medicine, state media reported, in the latest product-safety scare.A villager in Sichuan province was diagnosed with falciparum malaria, the most dangerous type of the disease,

BRUSSELS: Stalled nuclear talks on Iran could resume this autumn after both the European Union and Iran said they were ready to go back to the negotiation table, officials said Wednesday.The EU`s chief diplomat Catherine Ashton said Wednesday she was ready to pick a time and place to

PESHAWAR:  A bomb attack killed two people and wounded at least 15 others Thursday in the main town of Pakistan`s Swat valley, where the military put down a Taliban uprising last year, police said. It was the first such attack in the northwestern district since May and underscored

ISLAMABAD: The foreign ministers of nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India on Thursday opened their first key talks in Islamabad since the 2008 Mumbai attacks derailed a peace process.The talks are the third high-level contact in six months and the foreign ministers` first meeting since