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Richard Gasquet reaches Qatar Open final

Second-seeded Richard Gasquet overcame German qualifier Daniel Brands 7-5, 7-5 Friday to reach the Qatar Open final. The 10th-ranked Frenchman struggled early against the big-hitting German. Brands controlled the rallies with his forehand, often pushing Gasquet beyond the baseline. But as the first set went on, Gasquet ... Read More

Malala discharged from British Hospital

The Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban as punishment for campaigning for girls’ education has been discharged from the British hospital treating her, but will return soon for more surgery, the hospital said Friday. Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, central England, said 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai ... Read More

Iran says talks with big powers to be held in January

Iran has agreed to hold talks with six major powers about its atomic program in January but the date and venue has yet to be decided, the country’s top nuclear negotiator said on Friday. The six powers want to rein in Iran’s uranium enrichment program to ensure it is geared only for civilian energy, through a mix of ... Read More

Congressional critics of bin Laden film step up pressure on CIA

Three U.S. senators, including the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, have stepped up their pressure on the CIA over its response to “Zero Dark Thirty,” a new film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. In a letter sent to the CIA and released on Thursday, Dianne Feinstein, the head of the Intelligence Committee, Armed ... Read More

Jewish manuscripts found in Afghan Islamist stronghold

Israel’s National Library is unveiling a trove of Hebrew manuscripts giving the first physical evidence of an ancient Jewish community in Afghanistan. Library officials said Thursday the documents came from caves in an area of northern Afghanistan that is now a Taliban stronghold. The ... Read More

Sarkozy received ‘€50 million’ from Qaddafi: report

France’s former President Nicolas Sarkozy took more than €50 million from the late Libyan leader, Muammar Qaddafi, a French judge has been told, a report on Thursday revealed. Lebanese-born businessman, Ziad Takieddine told an investigative judge that he has “written proof” that transfers from Qaddafi and one of his sons to ... Read More

Clinton out of hospital, keen to resume work

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left a New York hospital late Wednesday after three days of treatment and is expected to make a full recovery from a rare blood clot in her head. “Secretary Clinton was discharged from the hospital this evening,” a top aide, Deputy Assistant Secretary Philippe Reines, ... Read More

Taliban likens U.S. Afghan role to Vietnam War

The Taliban has likened the planned withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan to America’s pullout from Vietnam, calling it a “declare victory and run” strategy in a statement on Wednesday. The announcement by the militant group said the ongoing transfer of security operations from U.S. troops to Afghan forces was merely a ... Read More

Iran says U.S. ‘still lives in Cold War era’ after new law enacted

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday that the United States “still lives in the Cold War era”. He was referring to a new law enacted by the U.S. president aimed at countering Tehran’s alleged influence in Latin America. Mehmanparast blasted U.S. President Barack Obama and said the “Countering ... Read More

Pakistani Taliban execute 21 kidnapped paramilitary men

Pakistani Taliban militants have executed 21 paramilitary force men who were captured in attacks on their posts late last week, a government official said on Sunday. Officials said the bodies of the 21 men had been discovered in the wilderness not far from the camps, their hands tied before they were shot. Two others -- ... Read More

U.S. drone strikes go down in Pakistan, up in Yemen

U.S. drone strikes against Islamist militants decreased in Pakistan’s tribal regions for the second year in a row but intensified in Yemen, according to figures compiled by a Washington think tank. In Pakistan, 46 strikes were carried out in 2012, compared to 72 in 2011 and 122 in 2010, the New America ... Read More

Mental illness, poverty haunted Afghan policewoman who killed American

The Afghan policewoman suspected of killing a U.S. contractor at police headquarters in Kabul suffered from mental illness and was driven to suicidal despair by poverty, her children told Reuters on Wednesday. The woman was identified by authorities as Narges Rezaeimomenabad, a 40-year-old grandmother and mother of three who ... Read More

Pope calls for ‘end to bloodshed’ in Syria

Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday called for an "end to the bloodshed" and "a political solution" in conflict-wracked Syria in a traditional Christmas message that touched on several other of the world's conflict zones. “There is hope in the world ... even at the most difficult times and in the most ... Read More

Afghan policewoman shoots dead foreign adviser

A female Afghan police officer on Monday shot dead a foreign civilian adviser in Kabul police headquarters, officials said, in the first “insider” attack to be carried out by a woman. It is the latest in a series of insider attacks that have seriously undermined trust between NATO forces and their Afghan allies ... Read More

Stalking the Taliban in Afghan currency markets

Haji Khairullah Barakzai is the ultimate Afghan success story: illiterate village boy makes a fortune thanks to a lifetime of hard work, unerring street smarts and God's favour. But to the U.S. Treasury Department, he is one of the biggest bankers to the Taliban, the architect of an underground network that converts ... Read More

U.N. fury after S. Sudan shoots down peacekeeper helicopter

South Sudan’s army on Friday shot down a U.N. helicopter, killing all four Russian crew on board and bringing fierce United Nations condemnation on the world’s newest state. U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon said the helicopter was a “clearly marked” U.N. aircraft and demanded that those responsible be brought to ... Read More

Canada’s Supreme Court rejects blanket rule on wearing niqabs in court

Canadian judges should decide on a case-by-case basis whether women can wear the niqab, a full-face veil, while testifying in court, but a blanket rule on the issue would be “untenable,” Canada’s top court said on Thursday. The decision, supported by four of the seven judges who heard the case at the Supreme Court of Canada, ... Read More

U.S. State Department security chief leaves post over Benghazi

The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday its security chief had resigned from his post and three other officials had been relieved of their duties following a scathing official inquiry into the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi. Eric Boswell has resigned effective immediately as assistant secretary of ... Read More

Three more polio workers shot in Pakistan; eight dead in 48 hours

Three workers in a polio eradication campaign were shot in Pakistan on Wednesday, and two of them were killed, the latest in an unprecedented string of attacks over the past three days that has partially halted the U.N.-backed campaign. The United Nations in Pakistan has pulled all staff involved in the campaign off the ... Read More

Vatican hopes Palestinian UN upgrade spurs solution to Arab-Israeli conflict

Pope Benedict XVI on Monday said the Vatican hopes the recent de facto recognition of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations would spur the international community to find a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. "It is hoped that (the resolution) will encourage the commitment of the international community to ... Read More

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