BANGKOK: Thai "Red Shirts" were set to rally in Bangkok and Chiang Mai Sunday to mark four years since a coup ousted Thaksin Shinawatra and commemorating those slain in a May crackdown on their protest.Authorities do not expect violence, but will keep security tight, with army-led command

TOKYO:  Japan plans to take "countermeasures" if China starts drilling in a disputed gas field in the East China Sea amid a simmering territorial row, press reports said Sunday.Japan says aerial photographs show that China has recently transported what appears to be drilling equipment to

KABUL: Three foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan -- two in a bombing in the south, and another soldier in an insurgent attack in the country`s north, NATO said Sunday.NATO`s International Security Assistance Force said in separate statements that all three died on Saturday, but

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden`s centre-right government was expected to win re-election on Sunday, but a strong showing by the far-right might leave the ruling Alliance short of a majority and could rewrite the political map.Two opinion polls on the eve of the election showed the

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed the hope that "responsible" leaders will take control in Iran, in an interview to be aired Sunday."And I can only hope that there will be some effort inside Iran, by responsible civil and religious leaders, to take hold of the

STOCKHOLM: Swedes go to the polls Sunday with surveys hinting voters will re-elect the centre-right government, as the far-right makes its debut in parliament and could be handed the role of kingmaker.Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, 45, is vying to see his four-party coalition become

BRATISLAVA: NATO vowed Saturday to make its command slimmer yet effective as its military chiefs met in Slovakia to discuss modernising the alliance.NATO Military Committee head Giampaolo Di Paola said the new command would be flexible, slimmer but effective, and said he could not give

BRUSSELS: Anger over France`s expulsion of Roma migrants has blown the lid off Europe`s failure to integrate its biggest minority group, fueling calls for sweeping action to end decades of neglect.The French crackdown escalated into a fierce political row which hijacked a summit of

VIENNA: A bitter row over Israel`s assumed nuclear arsenal looks set to dominate the annual general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency which begins Monday.Every year at the week-long conference which brings together all 151 member states of the IAEA, Arab nations table a

LONDON: Pope Benedict XVI has stepped up his displays of contrition towards victims of paedophile priests on his state visit to Britain, but he still has far to go to win back public opinion, observers said.Benedict met five British abuse victims and expressed "deep sorrow" during mass on

VANCOUVER: The only person ever convicted in the 1985 Air India bombings was found guilty of one count of perjury Saturday in this western Canadian city.Inderjit Singh Reyat, a Sikh immigrant to Canada, already served more than 15 years in prison for manslaughter and making the bombs in

SRINAGAR: Police fired on fresh anti-India demonstrations in Kashmir on Saturday, killing three protesters and bringing the number of civilian deaths in an unprecedented wave of unrest to 102.The new deaths came as thousands of Kashmiris poured on to the streets shouting "Go back India"

Kabul: At least 18 Taliban militants and six security personnel, including a soldier, were killed and several civilians injured in clashes in various Afghan provinces amid the country`s second parliamentary polls held Saturday, Xinhua reported.The Taliban who vowed to derail the voting

YANGON: Myanmar state media warned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi`s party on Saturday to drop protests against its dissolution and threatened jail for anyone impeding the November vote.Although the National League for Democracy (NLD) -- officially disbanded this week -- was not named

DAMASCUS: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met in Damascus on Saturday, two days after Assad held talks with a U.S. envoy about the prospects of renewing peace negotiations with Israel.The meeting suggested that Iran wants to keep close tabs on

BANGKOK: A convoy of Thai "Red Shirts" headed to their northern heartland Saturday for rallies marking four years since the coup that ousted Thaksin Shinawatra and four months since deadly protests ended.The procession of 80 cars, vans and pickup trucks snaked out of the Thai capital as

KARADIYANARU: Sri Lankan authorities Saturday began clearing rubble and wreckage after 25 people were killed in the first major explosion since the end of a decades-long civil war.Heavy earth-moving equipment was being brought to the village of Karadiyanaru, in the east of the island, as

BEIJING: More than 100 protesters rallied Saturday near Tokyo`s embassy in Beijing, furious over Japan`s arrest of a Chinese fishing boat captain, a move that has sparked a major diplomatic row.The demonstration began just metres (yards) from the embassy gate but when police blocked the

SRINAGAR, India: Thousands of residents of Indian Kashmir poured on to the streets Saturday after the death of another protester in a wave of anti-India unrest that has gripped the region for three months.Defying a strict curfew, protesters in Srinagar chanted "we want freedom!" and

WELLINGTON: A storm the size of Australia whipped New Zealand Saturday leaving tens of thousands of people without power and sending a stadium roof crashing down.The second natural disaster to hit the country in a fortnight lifted roofs and uprooted trees as hurricane-force winds swept