Syrian army troops have killed 175 opposition fighters, many of them linked to al-Qaeda-linked groups, in an ambush described as one of the deadliest attacks by government forces near Damascus, according to state media ... The report claimed several of those killed were foreign fighters who came to Syria from Saudi Arabia, Chechnya and Qatar ... From a distance, people could be seen running in different directions following the blasts ... ....(size: 5.2Kb)
Updated. February 28, 2014 12.38AM. KIEV, Ukraine — Dozens of armed men in military uniforms without markings were patrolling the airport in the capital of Ukraine’s strategic Crimea region on Friday as tensions in the country’s Russian-speaking southeast escalated. Russian state television quoted eyewitnesses saying the men arrived at the Simferopol airport in the early hours on Friday ... ....(size: 3.9Kb)
WASHINGTON. US PresidentBarack Obama told Hamid Karzai on Tuesday that he is now planning for a full US troop withdrawal because of the Afghan leader's repeated refusal to sign a security pact. But in a rare telephone call with Afghan PresidentKarzai, Obama also held out the possibility of agreeing to a post-2014 training and anti-terror mission with the next government in Kabul... 'Zero option' ... 'Friendly' conversation ... ....(size: 4.8Kb)
At least 26 people have been killed in bombings around the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, according to officials. Seventeen people were killed in one blast at a second-hand motorbike market in the eastern Sadr City district, they said. The bomb, which also injured 38, appears to have been placed in a motorbike at the market ... Sadr City is a predominantly Shiite Muslim district ... ....(size: 1.8Kb)
WASHINGTON. Al-Qaida's Afghanistan leader is laying the groundwork to relaunch his war-shattered organization once the United States and international forces withdraw from the country, as they have warned they will do without a security agreement from the Afghan government, US officials say ... The objective is to keep him from restarting the large training camps that once drew hundreds of followers before the US-led war began ... ....(size: 6.3Kb)
340,000 square kilometres – an area larger than the Netherlands – have disappeared since 2003, forestry officials say. A resident stands near the polluted Dongting Lake in Hanshoucounty, central China'sHunan province. China's wetlands have shrunk 9% since 2003 due to development, officials say Photograph. STRINGER SHANGHAI/REUTERS...Water has emerged as a major issue in China ... Sign up for the GuardianToday ... ....(size: 3.2Kb)
The four deaths in Guangdong occurred in Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Shenzhen and Meizhou, according to the center ... In Hunan, a one-month-old boy died on December 6 in Hengshan County, two days after being vaccinated ... A third newborn in HanshouCounty showed a severe adverse reaction after being vaccinated on November 25, according to local disease control authorities. ....(size: 1.8Kb)
The accident took place at about 11 am when a bus carrying 16 people -- a local driver and tourist guide, six Taiwanese tourists and eight Chinese-American tourists -- on an expressway in HanshouCounty......(size: 1.1Kb)
Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, is reported to have asked for a formal investigation into his family's wealth after claims that it is as high as £1.67 billion ...AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan. By MalcolmMoore, Beijing ... Related Articles ... Zhang Tiancheng, the deputy secretary of Hanshoucounty's Politics and Law Committee in Hunan province, said his total annual income totalled 34,030 yuan (£3402) and his wife's was 30,000 yuan ... ....(size: 12.4Kb)