A starving donkey is the only sign of life in this Pakistani tribal village, where the army has bulldozed most shops and houses as a collective punishment for harboring Taliban militants. Amid US concerns about talks between the new government

The Australian military on Monday said that it had launched a "major push" in a bid to clear out Taliban fighters from their heartland in southern Afghanistan. A series of operations would be carried out north of the soldiers' base

While tensions remain high along Chad's eastern frontier with Sudan, European Union peacekeepers are finding their most serious enemy so far to be the heat and the dust. The EU mission, known as EUFOR, undertook its year-long UN mandate in

Tareq Aziz, the international face of deposed and executed President Saddam Hussein's regime, is set to appear before the Iraqi High Tribunal on Tuesday without the new legal team he demanded three weeks ago. His first court appearance ended abruptly

Osama bin Laden has called on Muslims to help lift the Israeli blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and fight their governments in order to liberate Palestine, in an audio message purportedly recorded by the Al-Qaeda chief. "Dozens of people

Moroccan police have broken up a "terrorist network" of 11 people with links to Al-Qaeda that was planning attacks in Morocco and Belgium, the official MAP news agency said Monday. The 11, who include a Moroccan resident in Belgium, were

A media rights group has called for a full probe into a 2003 US shelling that killed two foreign journalists at a Baghdad hotel, arguing that new evidence showed the incident was not an accident. In a statement, the International

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Monday called on the Egyptian authorities to release a blogger arrested while covering a strike at a textile plant. Kareem al-Beheiri was arrested on April 6 at the Misr Spinning and Weaving company, where he

A Pakistani court on Monday acquitted Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, of decade-old charges of drugs smuggling, his lawyer said. Zardari was accused of trafficking in 1998 by the government of then-Premier Nawaz

A law banning smoking in public places came into effect on Monday in Turkey, but media reports said the ban appeared to be having little effect. The law was passed by Parliament in January, and prohibits lighting up in government

Egyptian police shot and critically wounded a Sudanese man on Monday as he tried to cross illegally into Israel, a security official said. Maurice Dana, 24, was shot in the head as he tried to enter Israel from an area

Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah Monday accepted the resignation of the cabinet following general elections in the oil-rich Gulf state, the official Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) said. The emir asked outgoing Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah to

Over-consumption, over-pumping and mismanagement are causing Lebanon's fresh water wells to become contaminated with salt water, making the reserves unfit for human consumption, a recent study shows. The information was made public at a conference organized the Issam Fares Institute

France broke an EU taboo on Monday by acknowledging contacts with Hamas amid concern that the ban on talks with the Palestinian militants could hinder Middle East peace efforts, experts said. The decision to acknowledge the meetings is also based

Myanmar on Monday declared three days of mourning for cyclone victims after agreeing to an international aid effort led by its Southeast Asian neighbors to help 2 million survivors in dire need. The regime said the mourning period would begin

Lebanon's latest eruption of political violence almost two weeks ago left a dozen local journalists stranded in Europe, and their divided return to the country almost perfectly mirrored the political chasm. The reporters flew to Larnaca on May 8 from

From the heart of Beijing to the devastated southwest, China came to a standstill Monday to mourn its earthquake victims as the number of dead, missing or buried soared past 71,000. Air sirens wailed across the country as most motorists

A mild earthquake hit South Lebanon on Monday, causing no damage or injuries, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported. It said the 3.0 magnitude quake was felt at around noon in the Southern town of Srifa and the nearby