KABUL (AP) ― A senior Defense Ministry official who allegedly leaked secrets that helped the Taliban stage suicide attacks in Kabul has been arrested by the Afghan Intelligence Service ― one of three high profile arrests announced Saturday by the agency.A spokesman said also arrested were a senior Taliban official accused of leading an insurgent propaganda campaign in eastern Afghanistan, and an i

 

MADRID (AP) ― Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Friday announced early general elections in November, scheduling the race four months earlier than anticipated to give his Socialist Party a better chance to stay in power amid growing outrage over the nation’s economic woes.Zapatero set the election date for Nov. 20 even though he was not required to call elections until March a

TEHRAN (AFP) - An Iranian man convicted of throwing acid in the face of a female student who was to have been blinded himself on Sunday in retribution was pardoned by his victim, the state-run television website said."With the request of Ameneh Bahrami, the acid attack victim, Majid(Movahedi) who was sentenced for 'qesas' ('eye for an eye'-style justice) was pardoned at the last minute" after she

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House and Republican congressional leaders made significant progress late Saturday toward a deal to avert a government default threatened for early next week, according to officials familiar with the talks.Under the plan, the nation's debt limit would rise in two steps by about $2.4 trillion and spending would be cut by a slightly larger amount, the officials said. The

Four people were killed and 16 others injured during a fight between two groups of workers after one faction detonated explosives in northwestern Gansu Province on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.The blast occurred at around 2:30 p.m. near a railway tunnel at a construction site in the Wudu District of the city of Longnan. Workers from the Wuguan highway construction crew, a section of the Lan

LUGANSK, Ukraine, July 29, 2011 (AFP) - Eighteen miners died and another 20 were missing Friday in two separate accidents at coal mines in the east of Ukraine, an industrial region notorious for its mining safety record.At least 16 miners were killed instantly as a result of an explosion at the Sukhodolskaya-Vostochnaya coal mine in the eastern Lugansk region early Friday, the emergencies ministry

HONG KONG, July 29 (Yonhap) -- China will increase compensation for each victim of the recent high-speed train crash in an attempt to soothe the pain of the bereaved families, a state-run news outlet said Friday.The train crash took place late Saturday near the city of Wenzhou in East Zhejiang Province when a high-speed train rear-ended another train, leaving at least 40 people dead and 192 others