Mullah Fazlullah is new chief of Pak Taliban
Islamabad: Mullah Fazlullah, who ordered the assassination of teenage activist Malala Yusufzai and led a brutal rule in Swat Valley, was on Thursday named the new chief of the Pakistani Taliban a week after former leader Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike.
European satellite will fall to Earth
New York: A European satellite that mapped Earth's gravitational field in exquisite detail will be pulled down by gravity to its fiery destruction sometime in the next few days. Where and when it will crash no one knows. It could be almost anywhere on the globe. About 25 to 45 fragments of the one-ton spacecraft are expected to survive all the way to the surface, with the largest perhaps weighing 200 pounds.
Male moves up prez runoff to Sunday
Male: After two failed attempt to elect a president, Maldivian authorities on Thursday decided to move up the possible runoff of the presidential re-vote to Sunday to avoid any constitutional crisis in case there is no clear winner in Saturday's polls."Both EC and agents of the three candidates have agreed to reschedule the runoff date," Maldivian President Mohammed Waheed's Press Secretary Masood Imad said.
‘Just one Syria chemical site uninspected’
The Hague: Inspectors have verified all but one of Syria’s 23 declared chemical weapons sites, the world’s watchdog said on Thursday , after filming a site that was difficult to access because of the war. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said that Syrian personnel had visited one of two remaining sites that they could not visit for security reasons and filmed it with “sealed cameras.”
Scientists develop new ‘tearless’ onions
Washington: Good news for housewives! Scientists have developed a new type of ‘tearless’ onions that produce less of the protein blamed for making eyes burn and tear up.The ‘tearless’ onions not only prevent eyes from burns and tears, but also fight against cardiovascular disease and weight gain, scientists say.
UN protests 152 Bangladesh death sentences
United Nations: The UN’s top human rights official has expressed serious alarm at death sentences handed down in Bangladesh to 152 border guards after mass trials that she says were unfair.
UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said yesterday the trials “failed to meet the most fundamental standards of due process.”
many flee in Philippines as typhoon nears
Manila: Philippine officials say thousands of villagers, including those from a central province devastated recently by an earthquake, are being evacuated ahead of the arrival of one of Asia’s most powerful typhoons this year.
homosexuality can be grounds for asylum: EU
Brussels: The European Union's top court says refugees facing imprisonment in their country of origin because they are gay may have sufficient grounds to be granted asylum in Europe. EC of Justice said on Thursday the existence of laws imprisoning homosexuals "may constitute an act of persecution per se" if they are routinely enforced.