Barack Obama is set to make the boldest strategic move of his presidency on Tuesday and order a surge of tens of thousands more US troops into an increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan. In front of cadets at the prestigious West Point military academy, Obama is expected to announce between 30,000 and 35,000 reinforcements as part of a new Afghan strategy intended in his own words to "finish the job" there. More than eight years after a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime after it... Read Full Story
Last week's one-year anniversary of the Mumbai siege was a reminder of India's vulnerability to militant attacks. But analysts say high returns for investors in the country this year show they are unfazed by the risks. "The attacks haven't deterred investors," said senior Asian economist Robert Prior-Wandesforde at HSBC in Singapore. "The perceived advantages of India as an investment location are clearly dominant." Indian markets have seen a surge in foreign capital flows that has driven... Read Full Story
Global climate talks to be held in Copenhagen got a big boost on the weekend when leaders representing a third of the planet's population put their full weight behind sealing a deal. The heads of government of the 53-nation Commonwealth announced Saturday that a legally binding climate accord was "essential" and they backed the December 7-18 Copenhagen negotiations called to draft a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol. The Commonwealth Climate Change Declaration, issued mid-way through a... Read Full Story
Rescue workers struggled to find survivors Saturday after at least 33 people died when a Bangladesh ferry overloaded with people returning home to celebrate a Muslim holiday capsized. Weeping relatives jammed the banks of the river Tentulia in the remote southern village of Nazirpur and watched desperately as divers scoured the icy waters for victims. "We have recovered 33 bodies. We believe dozens more people were trapped in cabins and in the hold under the water," local police chief Zakir... Read Full Story
Commonwealth leaders representing two billion people on the planet on Saturday threw their combined weight behind upcoming climate talks, driving momentum towards a new carbon-cutting treaty. "We, as the Commonwealth, representing one third of the world's population, believe the time for action on climate change has come," Australian Prime Minister Rudd said as he unveiled an agreement struck at a summit in Trinidad. The Port of Spain Climate Change Consensus, backed by all 53 member states... Read Full Story
Two barges loaded with logs sank in a lake in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 73 people, the International Committee of the Red Cross and a radio station said Saturday. "Up to Friday night, we had counted 73 dead and 276 who escaped," its country director Dominique Lutula told AFP. "There are probably more bodies trapped inside the barges that went down." The barges -- which Lutula said were linked to each other -- sank Wednesday night in Mai-Ndombe lake, in western... Read Full Story
A Chinese court has started to hear the first civil lawsuit seeking compensation for last year's tainted milk scandal, state-run media reported Saturday. A district court in Beijing on Friday began hearing a case filed by Ma Xuexin, whose 20-month-old son developed kidney stones after drinking "hundreds of packages" of the poisoned milk, the China Daily said. Ma is suing Sanlu Group, the dairy firm at the centre of the controversy, and a Beijing supermarket, where he bought the milk, for a... Read Full Story
Rescue workers struggled to find survivors Saturday after at least 33 people died when a Bangladesh ferry overloaded with people returning home to celebrate a Muslim holiday capsized. Weeping relatives jammed the banks of the river Tentulia in the remote southern village of Nazirpur and watched desperately as divers scoured the icy waters for victims. "We have recovered 33 bodies. We believe dozens more people were trapped in cabins and in the hold under the water," local police chief Zakir... Read Full Story
Oil exports to the port of Ceyhan in Turkey resumed on Saturday after a week-long interruption because of sabotage to a pipeline in northern Iraq, an oil ministry spokesman said. "Exports resumed today at 2:30 pm (1130 GMT). Repairs were completed faster than we had expected," Assem Jihad told AFP. "We thought the work would be slowed down because of the Eid al-Adha," he said of the feast that began on Friday in most Muslim countries at the end of the annual hajj pilgrimage. The sabotage... Read Full Story
At least 73 people died when two linked barges sank in a lake in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Saturday. "Up to Friday night, we had counted 73 dead and 276 who escaped," its country director Dominique Lutula told AFP. "There are probably more bodies trapped inside the barges that went down." The barges -- which Lutula said were linked to each other -- sank Wednesday night in Mai-Ndombe lake, in western Bandundu province, about 400... Read Full Story
