Four Afghan troops die in Taliban attack
Kabul: Taliban militants detonated a car bomb outside an Afghan intelligence office near the capital on Sunday and then tried to attack it on foot with guns, officials and the insurgent group said. At least four soldiers guarding the compound were killed and six insurgents died in the assault, officials said.
Birmingham Mayor to visit India next month
Washington: The Mayor of the US city of Birmingham will travel to India in October to build cultural and economic ties with Indian cities. Ahead of his visit to India, Mayor William Bell, a well-known African-American leader, has invoked the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, saying they are still relevant in the present world and need to be followed by the people.
lanka to release 107 rehabilitated lTTE cadres
Colombo: Sri lanka will release a total of 107 rehabilitated lTTE cadres on Monday, leaving only 232 former Tamil rebels to be reintegrated into the society. The country’s rehabilitation officials said on Sunday the 107 former Tamil Tigers would to be released tomorrow in the northern town of Vavuniya.
anti-viral drugs combination can treat MERS
Paris: US doctors on Sunday said a combination of two anti-viral drugs was an option for treating MERS respiratory disease after the therapy was found to work on lab monkeys. Two drugs — interferon-alpha 2b and ribavirin — that are commonly used together against hepatitis C inhibited the spread of the MERS coronavirus in the rhesus macaques species, they said. The combination also braked inflammation and reduced the risk of pneumonia in treated animals, they said.
16 arrested in China for duping people
Beijing: Sixteen people have been arrested in China for allegedly duping people of millions of yuan as “hush money”, posing themselves as top communist party officials or journalists. These suspects branded themselves as Party and Government officials or journalists and carried with their extortion activities in 27 cities and counties in seven provinces, Chinese Ministry of Public Security said.
107-year-old man killed in SWAT shootout
Washington: A 107-year-old Arkansas man was killed during a shootout with US police and SWAT team members, local authorities said. Police were responding to a disturbance at a house in Pine Bluff city on Saturday afternoon and determined that suspect Monroe Isadore had pointed a gun at two people, according to a statement given to local media.
S Korea, US plan to deter N Korea n-threat
Seoul: South Korea and the United States have mapped out a joint operational plan which outlines concrete measures to deter and respond to North Korea’s nuclear threats, a report said on Sunday. It encompasses political, diplomatic and military measures to specify how Washington will provide a nuclear umbrella for South Korea in the case of North Korean nuclear provocations.
Germany, CIA helped on Islamist database
Berlin: Germany’s intelligence services cooperated with the US CIA for years on a database of suspected jehadis and their supporters in Germany, the weekly Der Spiegel reported on Sunday. Under the codename “Project 6” or “P6”, Germany’s BND and Verfassungschutz intelligence services and the CIA monitored and collected data on Islamists and suspected terrorists in Germany, the magazine said, without revealing its sources.
New tech solar cells can withstand 70,000 suns
Washington: In a breakthrough, scientists have created an array of solar cells that can withstand the blazing glare of 70,000 suns. Researchers have come up with a new technique for improving the connections between stacked solar cells, which should improve the overall efficiency of solar energy devices and reduce the cost of solar energy production.