AFP News

China's leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping and US defense chiefs agreed on the need for expanding military relations between the two powers after talks at the Pentagon Tuesday, a US military spokesman said. China's top brass has shown less enthusiasm for deepening security ties with the United States but Xi, the country's vice president, endorsed more military contacts in talks with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta , Pentagon spokesman George Little said. Following an elaborate ceremony at the...Read Full Story

A bomb blast that badly wounded an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi was a terrorist attack by a highly-trained operative, the Indian government said Tuesday, as Israel accused Iran of being responsible. The injured female diplomat was described by doctors as stable after overnight surgery to remove shrapnel from her spine after the attack, in which a motorcyclist planted a suspected magnetic bomb on her car. "The explosion according to eyewitnesses happened within seconds of the device being...Read Full Story

The potentially fatal cash crisis engulfing Scottish champions Rangers took a new twist on Tuesday when British tax chiefs applied to place the club into administration. The move just came 24 hours after Rangers said they wanted to enter administration themselves. But Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the British tax authority, fear they could be placed well down the list of the club's creditors if Rangers are allowed to declare their own administration. Edinburgh 's Court of Session...Read Full Story

China's likely next leader Xi Jinping arrived Monday in the United States at the start of a week-long tour aimed at building smoother future relations between the Pacific powers. Xi, who is China's vice president and on course to be president through 2023, landed at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington where he was greeted by senior US officials, an official at the base said. Xi will meet Tuesday with President Barack Obama and other top leaders including Vice President Joe Biden , who went...Read Full Story

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday condemned attacks on Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia as "cowardly" and offered US assistance in any investigation. "I condemn in the strongest possible terms the bombing of an Israeli diplomatic vehicle in India and the attempted attack on Israeli Embassy personnel in Georgia," Clinton said in a statement. "The scourge of terrorism is an affront to the entire international community," she added. "The United States places a high...Read Full Story

Security forces in Bahrain used tear gas on Sunday against hundreds of protesters trying to approach Manama's former Pearl Square, the focal point of a month of Shiite-led protests last year, witnesses told AFP. Several small groups of demonstrators numbering several hundred people tried to march from Shiite neighbourhoods around the capital to the square ahead of Tuesday's first anniversary of the outbreak of the 2011 protests. But the witnesses said police used tear gas and sound grenades...Read Full Story

Impala Platinum, the world's number two producer, has agreed to take back 17,200 workers in South Africa who were fired for going on strike, their union said on Sunday. "They have offered to re-hire all the workers that were dismissed. We're hoping that they should be able to go back on Tuesday," National Union of Mineworkers spokesman Lesiba Seshoka told AFP. Parent company Implats' Impala Rustenburg mine had been losing an estimated 3,000 ounces of platinum a day because of the labour...Read Full Story

A retired Taiwanese general came under fire on Friday after he allegedly claimed that Taiwanese and Chinese armies are both "striving for unification" during a recent trip to China. Hsia Ying-chou, ex-vice chief of Taiwan's air force general staff and former president of the National Defence University, reportedly made the remarks while attending a seminar in China this week. "Our Nationalist army and the Communist army may have different ideals but we have the exact same goal to strive for...Read Full Story

The sentencing of an English former county cricketer who has pleaded guilty to spot-fixing has been delayed by a week. Mervyn Westfield , 23, was due to be sentenced at London's Old Bailey on Friday but the hearing has been adjourned until Friday, February 17. Westfield 's lawyer, Mark Milliken-Smith QC, said a delay had arisen because of "administrative matters". Former Essex bowler Westfield, 23, pleaded guilty on January 12 to accepting or obtaining a corrupt payment to bowl in a way that...Read Full Story

The United States confirmed Thursday that a top official linked to one of China's most high-profile Communist leaders had visited one of its consulates, amid speculation he tried to defect. The US embassy in Beijing declined to comment on rumours that Wang Lijun sought asylum, but the visit will further fuel growing intrigue surrounding Wang and his boss, Chongqing's Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai . As Bo's deputy, Wang -- whose current whereabouts are unknown -- won a reputation for...Read Full Story