International News

Phnom Penh, Nov 4 (IANS) Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was appointed as economic advisor to the Cambodian government, officials said Wednesday.

Sydney, Nov 4 (DPA) Two Qantas pilots were suspended Wednesday after forgetting to lower landing gear as they came in to land at busy Sydney airport.

Wellington, Nov 4 (DPA) Relations between Fiji's military government and its biggest South Pacific neighbours Australia and New Zealand were poised to worsen Wednesday after the island state expelled their senior diplomats.

Kathmandu, Nov 3 (IANS) Nepal's former Maoist guerrillas, who have kept up a siege on parliament since May and Monday launched fresh street protests against the coalition government, finally capitulated to growing pressure from the international community and called off their proposed blockade of the airport next week.

Faisalabad (Pakistan), Nov 3 (IANS) Pakistan will deploy guards at schools in the Punjab province to boost security against terror attacks, a media report said Tuesday.

Islamabad, Nov 3 (DPA) A passenger train collided Tuesday with a freight train in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, killing nine people and injuring 40, officials said.

Kathmandu, Nov 3 (IANS) A group of Buddhists from Nepal as well as animal rights organisations have begun urging India's state administrations and animal welfare organisations to help prevent the slaughter of thousands of birds and animals as Nepal's government said it would not ban a Hindu festival in the Terai plains for fear of ruffling religious sentiments.

Wellington, Nov 3 (DPA) Fiji's military ruler Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama gave the senior diplomats of New Zealand and Australia 24 hours to leave the country Tuesday and ordered his country's high commissioner in Canberra to return home.

Sydney, Nov 3 (DPA) A heated debate broke out in Australia Tuesday over the government's refugee policy after a boat carrying 39 asylum seekers sank in the Indian Ocean with 12 feared drowned.

Islamabad, Nov 2 (DPA) At least seven people were injured as an explosion ripped through a police post Monday on a main highway on the outskirts of Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, police said.

Islamabad, Nov 2 (DPA) An explosion ripped through a police post Monday
on a main highway on the outskirts of Pakistan's Lahore city, media reports said. Casualties are feared.

Pretoria, Nov 2 (IANS) South African police are probing the accident which occured Sunday afternoon leaving Deputy Minister of Human Settlements Zoe Kota and her driver injured and two others killed, a police department spokesperson said.

Sydney, Nov 2 (IANS) Teenage boys are less likely to gain university entrance than their female classmates and are more likely to leave school before 17, according to a new report.

Melbourne, Nov 2 (IANS) A group of Indian men, who were sharing a flat above an Internet cafe in this Australian city, were forced to flee after an explosion early Monday morning, a media report said.

Melbourne, Nov 2 (IANS) A man of 'Indian appearance' assaulted several female clothing shop assistants in Australia's Brisbane city, a police official said.

Sydney, Nov 2 (DPA) About 23 people were feared drowned Monday after a boat carrying 40 passengers sank in remote waters of the Indian Ocean.

Islamabad, Oct 31 (DPA) At least seven soldiers were killed and about a dozen injured Saturday when a bomb exploded near a troop vehicle in Pakistan's restive tribal region near the Afghan border, an official said.

Dhaka, Oct 30 (IANS) Bangladesh's Supreme Court should commute the death sentences of four former army officers convicted for killing the country's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and allow life imprisonment as their appeals have been pending for several years, a defence counsel has pleaded.

Islamabad, Oct 30 (IANS) Three former Pakistani Army generals have been accused of causing a Rs.1.8 billion loss to the government by illegally trading on the volatile stock market despite a diktat against this by the prime minister.

Karachi, Oct 30 (IANS) Security has been beefed up in this southern port city ahead of the Friday prayers with additional contingents of police and paramilitary Pakistan Rangers deployed at different roads to avert any terrorist incident.