CHICAGO: Officially, NATO meetings in Chicago this weekend will focus on the alliance's withdrawal from Afghanistan, improved military co-operation between the allies and missile defence. Unofficially the crucial issue is cash. Speaking at a briefing in Washington earlier this week, Nicholas Burns, a former US ambassador to NATO, said Americans were tired of being ''defence providers'' to Europe's '' ...

  TEHRAN: As diplomats prepare for talks on Iran’s nuclear ambitions next week in Baghdad, the Islamic Republic said Saturday that sanctions against the country would have to be lifted for discussions to go smoothly. A spokesman for the country’s foreign ministry said that the sanctions imposed by the West are without legal justification and that “no one in Iran is happy about the sanctions.” Iran, whi ...

   DAMASCUS: An explosive-laden vehicle went off in Syria’s eastern Dier al-Zour province on Saturday, targeting a parking lot of military, housing establishment, and casing unspecified number of casualties, pro-government al-Ekhbaria TV reported. The blast occurred at Masaken Ghazi Ayyash area, said the report, disclosing no further details. An opposition group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory fo ...

  ALEPPO: Regime forces fired on protesters who took to the streets of Aleppo on Friday, wounding several people at the biggest rally seen in Syria's second city since a revolt erupted last year, a watchdog said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said demonstrators also suffered gunshot wounds in Douma, a key protest hub near Damascus, but did not provide any casualty figures. "Thousands of peopl ...

NEW DELHI: Sixteen people were killed and almost two dozen seriously injured after a private bus collided with a stationary truck in eastern Indian state Uttar Pardesh's Baharaich district overnight, local media reported on Saturday.   The bus was carrying pilgrims to Ajmer Sharief from Sultanpur.   Eyewitness say the bus caught fire immediately after it rammed into the truck making it impossible ...

South Sudan says it will bring back its forces to disputed southern border region of Abyei if Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) do not leave the area. "If the Sudan Armed Forces are refusing to get out of Abyei, they must be forced out. Otherwise the Republic of South Sudan will have the right to move back its forces into Abyei," South Sudan Minister for Information and Government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin s ...

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and and China's Minister of National Defense Gen. Liang Guanglie, speak during a news conference at the Pentagon, last week, in Washington.   A new Department of Defense report warns that not only is China responsible for many of the cyber attacks on U.S. military computer systems, but that the country continues to launch cyber operations that threaten the U.S. economy as ...

A US soldier accused of killing five fellow servicemen in Iraq in 2009 is to stand trial in a military court in Washington. The US military says Sergeant John Russell will appear before a court-martial, but no trial date has yet been set. "These charges result from an investigation into Sgt Russell's alleged shooting of five military personnel on May 11, 2009 at the Camp Liberty Combat Stress Center in Iraq ...

A YouTube screenshot shows blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng. BEIJING: Blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng said on Saturday he has left a hospital in Beijing, where he has been for the past three weeks since he sought refuge in the US embassy, and was waiting at the airport. Chen said he believes he will be headed on a flight to the United States, but added he was still uncertain of it. The depa ...

If the Western parties follow the Istanbul pattern in [the upcoming] talks and demonstrate their good will to us, there will be a possibility of reviving their [Iranians] lost trust." Iran's Ambassador to Italy Seyyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini Iran’s Ambassador to Italy, Seyyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini, has urged the P5+1 group to take seriously the issue of “reviving the Iranian nation’s lost trust” during the up ...