LOS ANGELES: US investigators launched dawn raids Tuesday on dozens of Los Angeles locations suspected of offering "maternity tourism" services for mostly Chinese mothers wanting to give birth in the United States. The raids targeted apartment complexes in the Irvine, Rancho Cucamonga, Rowland He

MONTREUX, Switzerland (Reuters) - Iran rejected on Tuesday as "unacceptable" U.S. President Barack Obama's demand that it freeze sensitive nuclear activities for at least 10 years but said it would continue talks on a deal, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported. Iran laid out the position

SEOUL: North Korea officially reopened its borders on Tuesday to foreign tourists and businessmen nearly five months after shutting them over fear of the deadly Ebola virus, tour agencies and a diplomatic source told Reuters. "We've had it confirmed officially that the border is now open," said T

GENEVA: More than 6,000 people have been killed since violence erupted in Ukraine last April, the UN rights chief said on Monday, decrying a "merciless devastation of civilian lives and infrastructure." "More than 6,000 lives have now been lost in less than a year due to the fighting in eastern U

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama would veto a bill recently introduced in the US Senate allowing Congress to weigh in on any deal the United States and other negotiating countries reach with Iran on its nuclear capabilities, the White House said on Saturday. "The president has been clear that n

A twin car bombing targeting a busy Iraqi market place has killed at least 21 people in a town northeast of Baghdad, according to police sources. Police officials told Al Jazeera the attack took place on Saturday morning when the first bomb exploded near the market in the majority Shia town of Ba

MALE: Supporters of former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed streamed to the tiny capital island Male Friday for a mass protest against his detention on terror charges, which has sparked international condemnation. Organizers said they expected a “big crowd” for the protest, held a day after a cou

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: Nigeria's army chief said that Baga town in the country's northeast has been retaken by the military from Islamic extremists, and that displaced residents should be able to return to vote in late March elections. Lt Gen Kenneth Minima spoke to journalists on Wednesday after he

LONDON:  The "Jihadi John" killer who fronted Islamic State beheading videos was unmasked publicly for the first time on Friday by British media which published a photograph showing Mohammed Emwazi as a smiling schoolboy. The black-clad militant brandishing a knife and speaking with an English ac

DHAKA: A Bangladeshi court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Khaleda Zia for failing to attend hearings on graft cases, amid growing political turmoil in the country. Judge Abu Ahmed, from a special anti-corruption court in Dhaka, "issued the warrant against her, cancell

DALLAS: An ice storm that hit wide parts of Texas and neighboring states on Monday knocked out power to thousands of people, led to hundreds of traffic accidents and caused more than 1,300 flight cancellations nationwide. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for large pa

WASHINGTON: The latest in an unending parade of winter storms moved over the US East Coast on Saturday, dropping a wintry mix as far south as northern Georgia and potentially causing more headaches for the snow-weary northeastern New England states. The National Weather Service said the storm was e

ANKARA, Turkey: Turkey launched an overnight military operation into neighboring Syria to evacuate troops guarding an Ottoman tomb and to move the crypt to a new location, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Sunday. Davutoglu said nearly 600 troops and 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers

NEW DELHI: After testing the feature with select users, it appears mobile messaging service WhatsApp is now rolling out the much awaited internet calling functionality to a wider set of people. Earlier on Friday, a number of users of WhatsApp's Android app were able to get the voice calling featu

ROCKHAMPTON, Australia: Australia braced on Saturday for heavy rains and floods after weather authorities downgraded two cyclones that lashed its north and northeast, damaging homes and snapping power links, but there were no reports of casualties. Troops were on standby to help with clean-up eff

Qatar has recalled its ambassador from Egypt following a row about air strikes on Islamic State targets in Libya. Foreign ministry officials said it was prompted by comments made by Egypt's delegate to the Arab League, who accused Qatar of supporting terrorism. Qatar had expressed reservations o

Morocco has suspended all flights between Moroccan cities and Libya and closed its airspace to Libyan airplanes because of security concerns, the Moroccan government said on Morocco's Royal Air Maroc had already suspended its flights to Libya in July when Libyan factions started to fight over the

LASHIO: Myanmar declared a state of emergency on Tuesday in a conflict-torn border region where ferocious fighting between the army and ethnic rebels has forced thousands of civilians to flee. Fugitives from the growing violence in northeast of the country described how they fled airstrikes and gun