World News

India and the US have inched closer to concluding an agreement on arrangements and procedures for reprocessing US-origin spent fuel with the Indian camp exuding confidence that an understanding on this crucial remaining step of the nuclear deal will be reached before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets US President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

Galileo's missing fingers, tooth found
London: Galileo Galilei's two missing fingers and a tooth — removed from his corpse in a Florentine basilica in the 18th century — have finally been found.

BELOW ZERO More birth defects seen with assisted reproduction A study published in Fertility and Sterility has found a higher rate of birth defects among babies conceived by assisted reproduction.

Report: ISI helped Mullah Omar flee Quetta
WASHINGTON: Fearing that Taliban leader Mullah Omar might be targeted by US drones, Pakistan's ISI has helped him escape from Quetta to Karachi, where he has established a new council.

Iran has said that it is still keen for India to join the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, but has hinted that New Delhi should hurry up and resolve matters as the 'structure' of the project can change in the future.

THE TELEGRAPH The other wall that fell communism Nearly nine years before the Berlin Wall fell in Eastern Europe, a man leapt over the outer wall of a shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, to rally the workers inside to stage a series of strikes.

In 1982, a Pakistani military C-130 left the Chinese city of Urumqi with a highly unusual cargo: enough weapons-grade uranium for two atomic bombs, according to accounts written by the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan, and provided to The Washington Post.

The United Communist Party of Nepal Maoists (UCPN-M) brought Singha Durbar — the secretariat that houses the Prime Minister's office and important ministries — to a halt as they began their two-day secretariat gherao rally aimed at restoring 'civilian supremacy'.

Japan, the only country to declare strong emission cut targets this year, stepped up the pressure on developing countries to commit to quantifiable emission cuts.

A Chinese gold mining company is being investigated for causing serious damage to one of the oldest sections of the Great Wall of China.

After a nine-month delay, the tallest building in the world — the 818-metre Burj Tower in Dubai — will open in January 2010 to mark the fourth anniversary of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice-President and Prime Minister, taking over as Ruler of Dubai.

The US decision to appoint Robin Raphel as coordinator for non-military aid to Pakistan has run into controversy over conflict of interest with latest disclosures from a lobbying firm where she worked earlier clearly stating that she had been an active lobbyist for Pakistan until a few days before her appointment.

Former Prime Minister and Nepali Congress president G P Koirala is 'seriously' ill and now under treatment in Gangalal Heart Institute here.

A day after the protest by the members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal), the farmers belonging to Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta) staged a massive protest dharna and blocked vehicular traffic in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office in Phase I here on Tuesday.

About 9 am Thursday, Maj Nidal M Hasan walked over to see a neighbour in his aging apartment building here on the edge of downtown.

At the India Economic Summit which opened today, government, industry and policy wonks will debate a report — the World Economic Forum's assessment of global competitiveness — that makes many interesting observations and one utterly predictable one.

THE CLAIM:A person can pay off a sleep debt by sleeping late on weekendsTHE FACTS:Chronic sleep deprivation is a given for most people.

Participation of the United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M) in the peace process in Nepal is just a "tactic" and another round of armed clash to capture state power is not far away, Baburam Bhattarai, key ideologue of the movement, said.

Anticipating that an imminent Indo-Nepal extradition treaty will have negative consequences on its nationals alleged to be involved in anti-India activities in Nepal, Pakistan has surprised India by proposing its own extradition treaty to Nepal which bars Kathmandu from extraditing Pakistani nationals.