WASHINGTON: A US government agency report has warned that Islamic State has the ability to create fake Syrian passports, a federal official confirmed on Friday. A spokeswoman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed the contents of a story by CNN on Friday about the report, but declin

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong un appeared on Thursday to claim the country has developed a hydrogen bomb, a step up from the less powerful atomic bomb, but outside experts were sceptical about his claim. Kim made the comments as he toured the Phyongchon Revolutionary Site, which marks the feat

BEIJING: China will give household registration permits to its unregistered citizens and make medical insurance coverage more equal, the government said on Wednesday, as it looks to overhaul systems often under fire for failing those people most in need. The move on household registration - or "h

GENEVA/AMMAN: The United Nations urged Jordan on Tuesday to allow in 12,000 Syrian refugees stranded at the border in deteriorating humanitarian conditions and offered to help reinforce security at registration points. The Syrians are fleeing escalating air strikes on their battered homeland as w

Asserting that the ISIS does not speak for Islam, US President Barack Obama has urged Islamic leaders across the world to speak out against the terrorist outfit and its ideology. In a rare address to the nation from his Oval Office, Obama also urged his countrymen not to discriminate against peop

JAKARTA: Police say a commuter train slammed into a passenger minibus at a railroad crossing in Indonesia's capital, killing at least 14 people and seriously injuring 10 others. Tambora neighborhood police chief Wirdhanto says the bus driver allegedly ignored the warning signals when he crossed t

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama is deeply disturbed at some of the "political rhetoric" directed against the Muslim community in the US in the aftermath of the California mass shooting that killed 14 people, a presidential spokesman said today. Any effort to marginalise the highly patriotic Mu

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian anti-corruption officials questioned Prime Minister Najib Razak on Saturday in an investigation into deposits of funds totalling 2.6 billion ringgit ($615.53 million) into his bank accounts that have prompted calls for his resignation. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commissio

LAHORE: A Pakistani attorney said on Thursday he has filed a court petition seeking the return of the famed Koh-i-Noor diamond Britain forced India to hand over in colonial times. Once the largest known diamond in the world, the 105-carat Koh-i-Noor is one of the Crown Jewels. It is set in a crown

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama hailed a vote Wednesday by British lawmakers to join the air campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria. In a statement that also praised a German government decision to provide 1,200 military personnel to support the fight against the radical group, O

A man and a woman suspected of carrying out a deadly shooting at a center for the disabled in California were killed in a shootout with police, while a third person was detained, police said. The slain suspects were armed with assault rifles and handguns, San Bernardino police chief Jarrod Burgua

LONDON: Britain will join the US-led bombing campaign against Daesh in Syria after MPs voted Wednesday in favor of air strikes. Prime Minister David Cameron secured the strong mandate he had sought with 397 of MPs voting in favor and 223 against, a majority of 174, after over 10 hours of passionate

MOSCOW: Russia's defence ministry said on Wednesday it had proof that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his family were benefiting from the illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic State-held territory in Syria and Iraq. Moscow and Ankara have been locked in a war of words since last week when a

PARIS: French police have carried out more than 2,000 raids without judicial warrants and detained 210 people since a state of emergency was enforced in the wake of the November 13 Paris attacks. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday told Europe 1 radio station that police have seized 320

LE BOURGET, France: World leaders opened a historic summit in the French capital on Monday aimed at ending decades of political gridlock and forging an elusive agreement to avert calamitous global warming. The leaders kicked off 12 days of negotiations in search of a pact that would radically restr

In a dramatic twist to the more than 3-month long blockade, Nepali police on Sunday arrested 13 members of India’s Sashatra Seema Bal (SSB) in Jhapa in eastern Tarai region of Nepal but released them after 7 hours. Dammaru Niraula, Assistant Chief District Officer of Jhapa told The Kathmandu Post th

COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan court on Friday sentenced a top police officer, his son and four other policemen to death for the abduction and murder of a businessman in 2013. The court in Colombo found Deputy Inspector General Vaas Gunawardena guilty of killing Mohamed Shiyam in return for 10 million rupee

The IndependentA Russian S-400 air defence missile system makes its way through Red Square during a military parade in Moscow. (AP Photo) The surviving pilot from the Russian jet shot down by Turkey while conducting a mission in northern Syria has insisted his aircraft had received no war