THAILAND: Time appeared to be running out on the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration's weather-research project yesterday as Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra announced that the Cabinet had decided to put it to a parliamentary debate. "As the [parliamentary] checking process is slow, it might lead Nasa to decide to withdraw the project, because it faces time constraints," Yingluck told ...

  SEOUL: South Korea will soon sign a military agreement with Japan, officials said Wednesday, in what would be the first such pact since Tokyo's brutal colonial rule ended in 1945. The pact calls for sharing intelligence about North Korea and its nuclear and missile programmes among other topics, Yonhap news agency said, citing an unnamed foreign ministry source. It said the North's long-range missile ...

  TOKYO: Japan was probing attacks on government websites Wednesday after hacker collective Anonymous lashed out at beefed-up laws on illegal downloads and warned of more to come. A site purporting to speak for the group said newly enacted laws that could mean jail for anyone downloading copyrighted music and movies "will result in scores of unnecessary prison sentences to numerous innocent citizens". ...

  NEW YORK: New York City officials are in discussions with a developer to build a giant Ferris wheel, similar to the London Eye, in a deal that could be signed by the end of the summer, a person with knowledge of the talks said on Tuesday. The plan to build the world's tallest observation wheel, measuring 600 feet (183 metres) at its highest point, near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal was proposed by ...

MUMBAI: Bollywood superstar, Aamir Khan kept his word to a victim of domestic violence, to whom he had promised that he would use her cab services whenever he visited New Delhi. During his visit to New Delhi to present his report on the malpractices in the medical sector to the Parliament, he hired a cab from Sakha, the agency where Shanno, a victim of domestic violence works with. The agency Sakha also hel ...

LOS ANGELES: Emma Stone was surprised to be chosen as the new face of Revlon. The 23-year-old beauty was named as an ambassador for the beauty giant last summer. Emma has looked stunning on the red carpet in recent weeks promoting her new movie The Amazing Spider-Man. Despite this, the gorgeous star never thought she'd front a cosmetic campaign. "When they approached me, I thought: 'Why would I be approache ...

  HITTAGONG: More than 50 people have been killed in landslides in southeast Bangladesh after three days of rains that triggered flash floods and severed transport links, officials said Wednesday. The army has been deployed to help with search and rescue efforts in the affected hill region of Chittagong, said the region's chief administrator, Sirajul Haq Khan, who warned that the toll could rise. Accor ...

Rescuers at the scene of a refugee boat accident near Australia's Christmas Island A boat carrying 150 asylum-seekers has capsized near Australia’s Christmas Island in a second such incident this week. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority announced earlier that two merchant vessels had been dispatched to the scene on a rescue operation. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said at least 123 people ha ...

A home sale sign in Stockton, California, the United States, February 7, 2012 The city of Stockton in the US state of California is set to become the largest American city ever to declare bankruptcy as the financial troubles of the US deepen. A formal bankruptcy filing may come as early as Wednesday following the failure of negotiations between Stockton's officials and creditors. The northern Californian ci ...

SC direct­s AG to contac­t PM Ashraf and inform the court about his decisi­on. ISLAMABAD: While hearing the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) implementation case on Wednesday, the Supreme Court ordered Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to submit a written response to the court on whether or not he will write a letter to the Swiss authorities by July 12. A three-member bench, headed by Justice Nasirul ...