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Afghan toll: Nine UK soldiers killed in nine days

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:25:18 GMT

Another two British soldiers have died in southern Afghanistan, taking the death toll to nine in nine days.

China calls on members of Party to quell violence

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

China's leaders vowed to maintain stability in the west of the country yesterday in their first public comments on the ethnic riots that killed more than 150 people. Later, 8,000 troops took part in a show of force, marching through an area of the Xinjiang province's capital that was among the worst hit by the violence.

Law will let Afghan husbands starve wives who withhold sex

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

An Afghan law which legalised rape has been sent back to parliament with a clause letting husbands starve their wives if they refuse to have sex.

Family berate murder suspect's parents

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:21:00 GMT

The family of a teacher murdered in Japan pleaded with her suspected killer's parents to "redeem some self-respect" and help to trace him.

Women's rights 'in decline' in Afghanistan

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:11:21 GMT

Women in Afghanistan are facing increasing violence almost eight years after the fall of the Taliban, a UN report showed today.

Ben Chu: Pakistan ends its state of denial

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:33:31 GMT

Like Israel's nuclear weapons, the links between the Pakistani security services and the terrorist groups which operate in that country have long been public knowledge but never officially admitted. Until now, that is.

Grace Boyle: The Riverkeeper, the factories, and the daily battle to quell 170m litres of toxic effluent

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:59:44 GMT

Jose is the Riverkeeper, the first in Asia. His guard is the Periyar River.

Andrew Buncombe: Power cuts all round but not for India's politicians

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:40:38 GMT

In these dog days of summer when the mercury soars and grid appears overloaded, there's a familiar routine I find myself in every afternoon. Somewhere around 3pm, trying to get some work done in my office, I find myself staring at the air-conditioner, urging it, begging it, to please keep going. The worst sound in an Indian summer is for the machine to come to a spluttering halt, indicating that the power has just gone.

Clegg: Lives 'thrown away' in Afghanistan

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:40:51 GMT

The cross-party consensus on Afghanistan was rocked today after the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg criticised the Government's handling of the campaign.

David Kilcullen: The Australian helping to shape a new Afghanistan strategy

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:01:50 GMT

Appearing at his Senate confirmation hearing General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander sent to turn the tide of war in Afghanistan, was asked whether he would be seeking advice from David Kilcullen, “ Yes I will,” said the General to nods of approval “ David Kilcullen is a friend of mine, I think he talks a lot of sense”.

Detained doctors recant Sri Lanka death reports

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

A group of Sri Lankan doctors who have been in police custody for nearly two months were brought before the media yesterday to recant their reports of mass civilian casualties during the final days of the civil war.

To be spotted again: India wants to bring back the cheetah

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

They appear in portraits and carvings and the Mughal Emperor Akbar was said to have kept more than 1,000 for hunting. But the cheetah – prized for its speed and its ability to be trained – has not been seen in India for at least 60 years.

Soldiers storm city in turmoil

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The Chinese President Hu Jintao dramatically abandoned the G8 summit in Italy yesterday to return home and deal with the worst ethnic violence to hit his country in decades.

David Kilcullen: the Australian shaping operations in Afghanistan

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:57:57 GMT

China vows executions for rioters behind killings

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:20:34 GMT

China flooded the capital of western Xinjiang province with security forces today after ethnic riots left at least 156 dead. The city's Communist Party boss promised those behind the killings would be executed.

Andrew Buncombe: Burma - Even though I'm free I'm not

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:56:57 GMT

Earlier this year I was at Bangkok's main coach station catching an overnight ride up to the Thai-Burmese border town of Mae Sot. I was going primarily to interview some Karen war veterans who had fought with the British but who were now forced to live in refugee camps with little more than hand-outs.

Soldier killed in Afghanistan blast

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:27:59 GMT

Another British soldier has been killed in Afghanistan, taking the number of UK deaths in the country to seven in a week.

Suspected US missile kills 10 in Pakistan

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:23:33 GMT

A barrage of missiles believed fired from a U.S. unmanned plane destroyed a Taliban training camp on a mountain close to the Afghan border today, killing at least 10 insurgents, two intelligence officials said.

China struggles to end tide of ethnic violence

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Chinese riot police came face to face with a crowd of defiant Uighur women on the streets of Urumqi yesterday. The demonstrators were in the city's Muslim quarter, enraged at the arrests of their husbands after clashes that killed scores of Han Chinese and Uighurs earlier this week. At one point, protesters charged the security forces, some hurling their shoes, but the baton-wielding paramilitaries stepped back.

Protesters seek Muslim Uighur targets

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:35:41 GMT

Han Chinese armed with iron bars and machetes roamed Urumqi city today looking for Muslim Uighur targets to wreak revenge for bloody ethnic clashes two days earlier which killed 156 and wounded over 1,000.

Delayed monsoons threaten Mumbai water

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:49:55 GMT

The delay in monsoon rains in India has left the country's financial capital facing a water crisis.

Suspected US drone 'kills 14' in Pakistan

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:38:32 GMT

A suspected US drone fired a missile into a Pakistani Taliban stronghold near the Afghan border today killing 14 militants, an intelligence agency official and residents said.

Indian court backs hanging for death sentences

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:36:34 GMT

India's top court has refused to replace hanging with lethal injection as the country's sole method of execution, saying there is no evidence it is less painful than other ways.

Indian court maintains hanging for death sentences

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:36:34 GMT

India's top court has refused to replace hanging with lethal injection as the country's sole method of execution, saying there is no evidence it is less painful than other ways.

Briton killed in Afghan helicopter crash

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:41:19 GMT

A British soldier and two Canadians have died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, Nato said today.