STOCKHOLM: From speeches to press conferences, Sweden`s centre-right government has been tirelessly putting forth the country`s sound economic performance in a bid to get re-elected on Sunday."This is a very interesting position to have in an election campaign," Prime Minister Fredrik

LONDON: A dissident republican terror group in Northern Ireland threatened Wednesday to target banks and bankers as it seeks to destabilise the peace process, in comments to a newspaper.The Real IRA launched a tirade at financial institutions in Britain`s "colonial and capitalist" system

BEIJING: China said it had summoned Japan`s ambassador a fifth time to demand Tokyo release a Chinese fishing boat captain arrested after a collision between his and two Japanese vessels in disputed waters.Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin called in ambassador Uichiro Niwa on Tuesday to

SEOUL: South Korea`s government said Wednesday it has approved a plan by local groups to send flood relief aid to North Korea, amid growing signs of a thaw after months of tension on the peninsula.The Unification Ministry said it approved Tuesday requests to send emergency supplies worth

SYDNEY: Australia`s opposition leader Tony Abbott Wednesday threatened to bring down Julia Gillard`s fragile minority government, one day after it was sworn in, by persuading independent MPs to support him.Neither leader won an outright majority at August 21 polls but Gillard`s ruling

MIRANSHAH, September 15, 2010 (AFP) - US drones fired off a volley of missiles targeting Al-Qaeda linked fighters in a tribal area of northwest Pakistan Wednesday, killing at least 11 militants, security officials said.The pre-dawn attack -- the third in less than 24 hours -- was directed

NEW DELHI: India`s leading political parties will come together on Wednesday to try to forge a consensus on how to defuse escalating tension in Kashmir after the worst violence in three months of protests.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who admitted last week that he was "groping" for a

WASHINGTON: Insurgent US "Tea Party" conservatives scored another big upset victory Tuesday, as a political novice romped over a veteran lawmaker to become the Republican champion in the fight for Vice President Joe Biden`s old senate seat.With 99 percent of precincts reporting,

WASHINGTON: The United States plans to offer Saudi Arabia 60 billion dollars` worth of hi-tech fighters and helicopters to help counter the threat posed by Iran, in the largest ever US arms deal, officials said.A senior defense official said President Barack Obama`s administration would

Santiniketan, West Bengal:  Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said becoming the Prime Minister is not the only `job` in the world and that there were many other jobs a person could do.The scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family responded in this fashion deflecting a pointed query during an interaction at

New York:  Coming two weeks after Election Day, a book from President Barack Obama for some of the nation`s nonvoters: inspirational stories for children about American pioneers."Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters" is a tribute to 13 groundbreaking Americans, from the first

WASHINGTON: The United States plans to offer Saudi Arabia 60 billion dollars` worth of hi-tech fighters and helicopters to help counter the threat posed by Iran, in the largest ever US arms deal, officials said.A senior defense official said President Barack Obama`s administration would

HAVANA: Cuba will lay off more than 500,000 state employees by March and expand private employment to give them work in the biggest shift to the private sector since the 1960s, the Cuban Workers Federation said on Monday.Eventually more than a million jobs would be cut and, due to efforts

SEOUL: South Korea said Tuesday it would allow more of its citizens to work in a jointly-run industrial estate in North Korea amid growing signs of a thaw in cross-border relations.The Unification Ministry plans to let up to 900 South Koreans work at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, up

MIRANSHAH: A salvo of US missiles killed at least seven militants in Pakistan`s northwestern tribal belt on Tuesday, the tenth such strike in 11 days, security officials said.The Pakistani officials said four missiles hit a militant compound in Bushnarai village in Shawal district of

TOKYO: Japan`s Prime Minister Naoto Kan survived a leadership challenge by a party powerbroker Tuesday after just three months in office, but his government could still face new political tumult.Kan was re-elected by his centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) as party president,

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Egypt on Tuesday urging Israel and the Palestinians to find ways to clear the "hurdle" posed by a looming expiration of a freeze on Jewish settlements.The settlements issue could stall the new peace talks between Israeli

CARACAS: Fifteen people died in a plane crash in eastern Venezuela, but 36 others miraculously survived after the pilot alerted air traffic control that something was wrong moments before disaster struck.The plane, carrying 47 passengers and four crew from the resort city of Isla

CANBERRA: Julia Gillard was sworn in as Australia`s prime minister Tuesday, faced with leading a fragile coalition government after scraping back into power in the wake of a cliffhanger election. Gillard, Australia`s first woman prime minister, formally returned to office nearly a week

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday Israel could not extend a moratorium on housing construction in West Bank settlements but indicated he would limit the scope of future building, officials said.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to quit nascent