World News: General

Insurgents may step up attacks in Iraq before a parliamentary election in January, the government said on Thursday, acknowledging the fears of many Iraqis who are only just starting to enjoy better security.

Emboldened by a rousing welcome in Cambodia, Thailand's fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra is rallying supporters from just over the border, upping the ante in Thailand's political crisis.

The wife of one of two Swiss businessmen prevented from leaving Libya for 16 months has appealed to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to allow the pair to return home on humanitarian grounds.

A U.N. world food summit next week is likely to make little headway in the fight against hunger, with leaders simply pledging to boost agricultural aid to poor countries but setting no targets or deadlines for action.

President Dmitry Medvedev called on Russia on Thursday to refocus its economy away from Soviet-era energy and heavy industry towards information technology, telecommunications and space.

Following are the highlights of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's annual address to the federal assembly on Thursday:

A declaration to be made at next week's world food summit in Rome will not mention a target to eradicate hunger by 2025 nor a commitment to spend $44 billion a year in agricultural aid, according to a final draft seen by Reuters.

Lahore, Nov. 10 (ANI): A French doctor is taking a 6,000-mile trip from Pakistan to Paris in order to promote tourism in the terrorism-torn country.

A suicide bomber in an auto-rickshaw blew himself up in Pakistan on Monday, killing three people, when police stopped him at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Peshawar city.

Peshawar, Nov 9 (IANS) A powerful explosion took place Monday morning in this Pakistani city, leaving at least three dead and seven others injured, a media report said.

Pakistani maritime authorities on Friday arrested 13 Indian fishermen and seized their three boats for illegally venturing into Pakistan's territorial waters.

Islamabad, Nov.7 (ANI): Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has himself revealed that certain political quarters in the country are trying relentlessly to depose him from Presidency, and that he has thwarted three such attempts in the past.

Seoul, November 06 (ANI):South Korea's National Assembly ratified a trade deal with India, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA),during a regular parliamentary session on Friday that would eliminate or reduce tariffs on over 4,400 South Korean export items.

Urumqi (Xinjiang, China), Nov.5 (ANI): Four months have passed since the bloody riots in Urumqi that killed almost 200 people, but the residents of the area say their lives will continue to be affected until full Internet service is restored to the city.

Beijing, November 4 (ANI): China on Tuesday firmly opposed the Dalai Lama's scheduled visit to India-china border region. The Dalai Lama is expected to give spiritual lessons beginning on November 8 to his followers in Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh state, which is at the centre of a border dispute between China and India who have been trying to reduce tensions recently.

A suspected Taliban suicide bomb blast rocked the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi today killing at least 20 people and wounding many. The attack took place took place in an area that is home to the army headquarters as well as some hotels.

A powerful blast occurred outside a hotel in a high-security area near the Pakistan Army's headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi today, killing at least 10 people and injuring several others.

Melbourne, Oct 31 (ANI): A Melbourne woman who spent 60 years of her life in an iron lung has died. She was 83.

Visiting Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil asked Cyprus business fraternity to tap India's trade potential on Friday.

Beijing, Oct. 30 (ANI): A High Court in China' Xinjiang province on Friday upheld the verdict of the first-instant trials in the Urumqi violence, which sentenced 21 people that included death penalty to nine.